Revs hope to keep rolling against Fire

Foxborough, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - The New England Revolution will be aiming to collect a fourth straight win on Sunday when the club welcomes the Chicago Fire to Gillette Stadium.

The Revs enter the contest off a 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City in midweek, while Chicago also notched a victory in its most recent fixture, downing FC Dallas, 1-0.

Since ending an eight-game losing streak on July 30, New England has collected 13 of a possible 18 points to put itself firmly in the mix for a top-three spot in the Eastern Conference.

The latest win came after the team went down 1-0 in the ninth minute to a goal from Sporting's Soony Saad, only for Teal Bunbury to equalize just before halftime for the Revs.

Lee Nguyen then took over in the second half, scoring both goals to hand his team three points and continue a fantastic season that is starting to attract Most Valuable Player talks.

Nguyen has now tallied 12 goals this season for New England, and head coach Jay Heaps feels as though he is just starting to garner attention for a skill set that Heaps has been aware of for a while.

"Lee is showing you what he can do," Heaps said following Wednesday's win. "We've seen it for a while. He's really special. He's got the quickest feet in the league and if you give him a little bit of space he can hit a ball as good as anyone."

Midfielder Jermaine Jones made his debut for New England in Wednesday's win, playing 45 minutes as he continues to get his match fitness up to the right level. And his presence in midfield will only enhance an already strong unit as the Revs continue to push toward the playoffs.

The Fire collected just their fifth win of the season last time out, but the club appears to have gotten a boost from the arrival of former Toronto FC forward Robert Earnshaw, who came off the bench to score in the 83rd minute of the 1-0 win over Dallas.

Earnshaw has now scored in his first two appearances for Chicago, both as a substitute, and head coach Frank Yallop isn't exactly surprised he has had this kind of impact.

"I mean, every time we make a signing, we hope it works out, and that they settle in really quickly. I think the big thing for me when we signed Robbie was that he's already been in the league," said Yallop. "I've kept contact the last couple of years with him about coming to San Jose when I was there, and he ended up going to Toronto, but we had a good rapport. I always felt that bringing in someone who has already played in the league is really important. He gets the travel, he gets the game, he gets what's good. Impact-wise, he's obviously been very key to us the last few games, so we're hoping it continues."

Despite sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with just five wins in 25 games, the Fire is only four points out of a playoff spot. And in Earnshaw, Yallop may have found the piece that can propel the team further up the table in the coming weeks.