Revolution keeps Fire down

The result was the same, but at least it wasn't nearly as ugly.

Coming off one of the team's all-time worst losses, the Fire suffered a 1-0 defeat Saturday night against the New England Revolution in SuperLiga action at Toyota Park.

It's tough times for the Fire, which is struggling with several injuries, with young players filling in and learning on the fly.

"This is the reality," Fire coach Carlos de los Cobos said. "We are living in a difficult moment the last few weeks. ... We are paying the price for building up the team."

Marko Perovic made the Fire pay the price when he scored the game's only goal in the 76th minute, rifling a 25-yard shot just inside rookie goalkeeper Sean Johnson's right post after Kheli Dube took the ball from rookie central defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe.

"It's unfortunate that they're learning by making mistakes," de los Cobos said of his players.

"It was a good finish," Johnson said. "I thought we defended well overall, but it was just a little lapse and it cost us."

It was one of the few mistakes Watson-Siriboe made after a difficult first half in Wednesday's 5-1 loss to Morelia in SuperLiga play.

"The first game we came out a little flat, and that team punished us every time we had a mistake," Johnson said. "That will happen with really good teams. Tonight we came out with the mindset that we need to go out there and get a result, and unfortunately we didn't."

Offensively, the Fire continued to struggle, being shut out for the second time in its last three games. The club had an edge in possession but really only put a scare into New England goalkeeper Matt Reis once, when Mike Banner hit the left post with a 25-yard blast in the 13th minute.

"It's very frustrating," defender Wilman Conde said. "It's too bad we weren't able to find a better way out of this situation. We've hit a bad stretch. We've just got to keep working and hope the situation improves to make us feel a little better."