IMPACT BOUNCE BACK
Rout Revolution with four goals
Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored his first two goals of the season and Ignacio Piatti had a goal and three assists as the Impact defeated the New England Revolution 4-2 Saturday at Saputo Stadium. The victory ends a four-game losing streak as the Impact’s record improved to 3-6-0.
The victory came after a week in which coach Rémi Garde said he wanted to see more effort from his team in practice and he challenged his team again Saturday.
“We wanted to win the second half and we were able to do that,” said Garde, whose team scored three times in the second half.
Garde said the Impact took advantage of an overly aggressive New England defence.
“When the defence plays high, they take a risk and we were able to exploit that,” Garde said.
Jackson-Hamel was one of the players whose play has been criticized by the coach, but he came up with a strong performance.
The whole team was hyped, we came to win,” Jackson-Hamel said. “It wasn’t about me getting the start, it was about the team getting the win.”
But the star of the show was Piatti, who has five goals and six assists in nine games. “When he’s in the 11, he makes the offence go,” said midfielder Samuel Piette. “When he has the ball, he draws two or three defenders to him and that opens things up for the other guys.”
The first half ended on a dramatic note as Jackson-Hamel scored in added time to give the Impact a 1-0 lead. A pass from Piatti sent Jackson-Hamel off on a solo run and he found himself in a one-on-one duel with goalkeeper Matt Turner.
Turner managed to get a piece of the shot from inside the box, but the ball trickled over the goal line.
Jackson-Hamel missed an opportunity for a second goal in the 49th minute but there was no mistake three minutes later when Piatti and Jackson-Hamel combined to give Montreal a 2-0 lead. Piatti picked up his third assist of the game when the Impact flooded the box in the 65th and Piatti threaded a pass to Raheem Edwards, who scored his second goal of the season.
Piatti completed the rout with his fifth goal of the season in the 69th minute. Piatti outsprinted two defenders to run down a long pass from Raitala in the box.
Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush made four saves, but lost his clean sheet when Wilfried Zahibo scored in the 78th minute and again on a header in the 86th minute.
The Impact play the Chicago Fire on the road Wednesday and return to Saputo Stadium on Saturday to host the Philadelphia Union.