The New England Revolution have defeated Atlanta United 1-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Gustavo Bou scored the only goal of the match in the 18th minute as New England went six points clear at the top of the Eastern Conference. 

The victory is also the first for the Revolution in Atlanta, having lost the previous three trips to the Georgia capital. 

Story of the match

New England created a couple of opportunities inside of the first ten minutes as Bou sent a shot that Atlanta goalkeeper Alec Kann got his body in front of and Adam Buksa headed a Carles Gil corner on goal, but the shot trailed off to the left.

The hosts had their first chance of the match in the 13th minute as Marcelino Moreno sent a nice ball to Erick Torres, whose shot was easily gathered in by Brad Knighton. The Argentine then saw his blast from long-range saved, as well.

New England then struck five minutes later. Buksa slipped, but gathered himself to feed it to Bou, who slotted past Kann for his seventh goal of the season.

Atlanta thought they were level as a pass by Amar Sedjic deflected off of a Revolution player and fell to Machop Chol, who beat Knighton, but the goal was disallowed when the Sudanese was judged to have been in an offside position.

The pace picked up as both teams enjoyed good spells of possession. In the 25th minute, Gil fired off of the woodwork and in the 36th minute, Buksa found himself in space and sent a left-footed shot that Kann saved.

The Five Stripes looked to regroup in the second half and in the 70th minute, Brandon Bye blocked an Erik Lopez shot and in the 81st minute, Sedjic tested Knighton, who saved the Serbian's right-footed effort. Three minutes later, Moreno sent one on goal, again Knighton stopping the shot.

A minute from time, Gil fired over from a free kick and Arnor Traustason blocked a last-gasp effort from Brooks Lennon in stoppage time as New England snapped a three-match winless run.

Man of the match: Carles Gil

Once again, the midfield master gets this honor as the five key passes he had sparked the Revolution attack. He's probably the front-runner for MLS MVP and when you watch him play, it's not hard to see why.