until about 10 minutes from the end. A challenge from Andrew Boyens arrived an instant too late on Jaime Moreno and referee Kevin Stott pointed to the penalty spot. The all-time MLS scoring leader stepped up to bury the spot kick as usual, yet left the home crowd stunned when he drilled his bid wide of the left post.
• While he put in a change of tactics on the day, Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio made no change to the 11 starters he ran out for the 3-0 victory against the Houston Dynamo the previous Sunday at Giants Stadium.
• Here's Osorio's team (4-1-3-2): Jon Conway - Chris Leitch (Hunter Freeman 64), Andrew Boyens, Diego Jimenez, Kevin Goldthwaite - Juan Pietravallo - Seth Stammler, Mike Magee (Jorge Rojas 70), Dave van den Bergh (Danleigh Borman 82) - Dane Richards, Juan Pablo Angel. Substitutes Not Used: Danny Cepero, Jeff Parke, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, John Wolyniec
• "I think we did enough to win the three points but in a way we let them off the hook. But I'm very pleased to have a clean sheet and contained a very good team going forward, especially at home," Osorio said. "A clean sheet will prove to be very good for us and for what we're trying to do here."
TEAM NEWS
• In 26 all-time league meetings against D.C. United at RFK Stadium, and another four in the MLS Cup Playoffs, the New York club had posted a defensive shutout - until Saturday.
• "That's what we talked about in the locker room. The first 20 minutes, they had the fans behind them, they were going to come out buzzing so we had to weather the storm which we did I thought," said defender Chris Leitch. "... It was a hard fought defensive battle and a lot of the guys stepped up and it was good to keep a clean sheet."
• Added goalkeeper Jon Conway: "That just shows how tough this place is to play in. We are happy with our effort tonight to get another zero."
• While the Red Bulls were shut out after scoring 12 goals over the five unbeaten games coming into the United contest, they kept a clean sheet for the third match in a row. The last goal New York allowed came in the 4-1 win against D.C. United on Aug. 10, and the Bulls have now gone 344 minutes since conceding a goal.
• "It says that we got the ship righted and we are playing well and there is a lot of confidence in the locker room and it's important now going into that home stretch of games," said Conway.
• For Osorio, the addition of Juan Pietravallo into a holding midfield role has been vital to his team's success over the past month, and it continued against United.
• "You have to be able to compete and when you have the ball, you play. We created very good chances today so Juan Pietravallo as well as Seth Stammler were immense in the midfield and hopefully they continue doing their job," Osorio said.
