Impact clinch playoff spot, beat Revolution 1-0 behind Piatti’s goal

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Ignacio Piatti scored in the 55th minute and the Montreal Impact secured a playoff berth with a 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday night.

“I have to say mission accomplished tonight, but we have one more game to move up the standings, so we have to keep our focus for the next game,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “We went on the road with a number of difficult games, including here in New England who lost just once at home this season. I’m proud of the group.”

Piatti’s goal was an entirely individual effort from winning the ball at midfield and weaving through a series of defenders to shielding New England’s Scott Caldwell with an arm bar and finishing into the top right corner from outside the 18-yard box in the 55th minute.

The Impact (14-13-6, 48 points) moved ahead of the Revolution into a fourth-place tie with D.C. United in the Eastern Conference. Montreal wraps up its regular season on Oct. 25 at home against Toronto FC.

“Our objective as the season closes was to get some wins on the road and we’ve done that with two in a row,” said striker Didier Drogba. “This was a great team game and everyone contributed defensively tonight.”

The Revs (13-12-8, 47 points) extended their winless streak to four and missed a playoff-clinching opportunity in front of a regular-season record crowd of 42,947 at Gillette Stadium.

With one game to go, New England leads its only challenger for the final playoff position, Orlando City, by three points and has an eight-goal advantage in the differential tiebreaker.

— With files from The Canadian Press