FOXBORO -- Jay Heaps knew that Kelyn Rowe would give the New England Revolution a spark. That's why he called upon his services in the 64th minute on Saturday night.
It was the first of two substitutions that the Revolution would make against the Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium.
But he was right. Rowe gave the Revs a much-needed spark after a scoreless first half. In fact, he came in and helped New England score two goals in a four-minute span.
"He's been pushing hard lately, and I think you saw, when he came into the game, there was a different buzz," said Heaps after the Revolution's 2-0 win over the Fire.
"The first and second goals were beautiful from Kelyn," said Heaps. "He's smart . . . We like getting him into those situations where he can be a dynamic attacker for us."
Rowe finished with a goal and an assist. But so did Benny Feilhaber. The duo helped each other score, and helped the Revs pick up their fifth win of the season.
"It was big for Benny," said Heaps. "And obviously Benny has played a lot more on the wide play. Today we focused on him being in the middle, more attacking. He's comfortable there, and I thought Benny did everything right tonight. He defended when we needed him to defend, and when he had his chances to change the game, he did."
In order to allow Feilhaber to be more offensive on Saturday night, Heaps moved captain Shalrie Joseph to the back end, as more of a defensive midfielder.
The move worked, as did the move to insert Rowe from the bench, leading to a productive second half that won New England the game.
"In the first half, I think we weren't really able to do a lot of the things we wanted to," said Feilhaber afterwards. "We were fighting in there. It wasn't the best conditions. The ball was definitely slipping off our feet a little bit. But we stayed together as a team, and it came together."
Feilhaber sent a long and perfect pass down the middle of the field that ended up on the foot of Rowe at the top of the box. Rowe then made a quick move ahead, and buried a shot into the low-right corner of the net with the outside of his right foot for the 1-0 lead in the 69th minute.
"I thought, first touch, got to take it inside and beat the first defender," said Rowe. "Second touch, you've got to put it away."
"I just saw Kelyn making a run kind of in behind their left back, I just put it into him, and he did the rest," said Feilhaber.
Rowe returned the favor just minutes later, as he perfectly placed a give-and-go pass down the right wing to Feilhaber, who stepped in and finished in the 73rd minute, sealing the deal on a win.
"I got the ball with tons of space on the right side, and Kelyn was running through the middle," said Feilhaber. "I just put him through and just kind of followed up on my run, and he put me in perfectly. I looked up to see if I could get it into a forward.
"I think Saer was kind of man covered by maybe one or two guys, and I just thought, aim for the five-hole and put it in, and thankfully it went in."
"Benny's a great guy and he played me the first ball," said Rowe. "I've got to give him another one. He made a great one after he passed me the ball, and I had to get it back to him."