KANSAS CITY - The injury depleted New England Revolution spoiled Kansas City's perfect start Wednesday night at Community America Ballpark in a rain-soaked midweek 3-1 victory.

Gambian teen sensations Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally each scored after a Wizards' own goal to give the Revolution the win without the services of Taylor Twellman or Steve Ralston. The loss drops the Wizards to 2-1-0, while New England joins Kansas City at the top of the Eastern Conference.

The rain began coming down steadily in the 20th minute, and both sides took advantage of the slick playing surface as offensive chances came fast and furious with the ball pinging around the pitch. The two squads combined for 25 shots, 14 corner kicks and 28 fouls, and Revolution coach Steve Nicol told American Soccer Daily that the conditions made for a high-paced match.

"The field was electric fast," he said. "The field the was so quick that passes had to be spot on or people weren't going to be able to control them."

The Revolution was first to threaten when Mauricio Castro narrowly missed the top corner on a free kick from the edge of the penalty area in the sixth minute. Kansas City was next to bring the crowd to their feet as a Claudio Lopez diagonal ball found Scott Sealy in the box.

Sealy picked out Kurt Morsink with his head, but New England goalkeeper Matt Reis saved Morsink's shot and the midfielder's ensuing follow-up off the rebound.

In the 12th minute, the Wizards gifted the Revolution another free kick just outside the penalty area, resulting in a Jack Jewsbury own goal. Wizards center back Tyson Wahl's attempted clearance of Castro's service into the area was deflected off the leg of Jewsbury and past Kevin Hartman to put New England ahead.

Despite the setback, Kansas City pushed forward, but Reis foiled a great chance by Sealy and Lopez headed over the crossbar.

The home team did find an equalizer when Nyassi took down Morsink in the box in the 28th minute. The 19-year old Gambian's reckless tackle left Morsink writhing on the ground in pain, and Jewsbury stepped up to the spot to send Reis the wrong way to tie the game.

But that lead would only last six minutes as the Revs began making their presence felt on the wings with Khano Smith and Nyassi at the center of the trouble for Kansas City. The two combined to put New England ahead in the 40th minute when Smith beat rookie Jonathan Leathers to the end line and squared the ball across the box for Nyassi, who took the shot first time to outdo Wizards defenders Jimmy Conrad and Wahl for his second goal of the season.

"I think the key to the goal is getting the ball wide," Nicol told ASD. "If we can get the ball wide and early, we get guys running at defenders. I don't know any defender that likes that."

Smith and Nyassi continued to plague the Wizards flanks, but New England's third tally would come from a deadball situation. This time, it was the other Gambian sensation, Mansally, who latched onto an uncleared ball to drive low past Hartman for his first goal in Major League Soccer to give the Revs a 3-1 halftime advantage.

In the second half, Kansas City pushed forward looking to salvage a result at home, but New England was content to defend in their own half. Though the Wizards recorded 10 shots to none for the Revolution in the second 45 minutes, they never found the back of the net as Reis consistently came up big when it mattered most.

"Its what he does," Conrad told ASD. "He makes big saves. I've played with and against him for a long time. They needed him to play big tonight. They had a lot of young players out there tonight and they got some confidence off a fluky goal, a couple fluky goals. Then they sat back and packed it in and made it harder for us to break down."

Onalfo told reporters he was extremely disappointed in his squad's inability to finish their chances, but he said the focus must turn to the next opponent Houston immediately to avoid another setback.

"Missed opportunity really, in my book," Onalfo told reporters. "Obviously, credit to New England because regardless of who they put on the field they always compete and they are very hard to play against. Thats a lesson that we have to learn. I felt like we had some guys who were very slow to get going."

Nicol said the result was an enormous boost for New England's confidence after last Thursdays shellacking at the hands of the Chicago Fire on espn2. He said his team was able to utilize their pace with Shalrie Joseph pulling the strings from the middle of the park.

"Its huge," Nicol told ASD about the victory. "After the 4-nil loss, its important to get settled down again and pick the points up. To get it here is fantastic because this is going to be a tough place to come and win games."

Kansas City will get no respite from action as the Wizards meet the MLS Cup defending champion Houston Dynamo on Saturday at CAB. New England also takes the field Saturday, facing Christian Gomez and the upstart Colorado Rapids in Foxboro.

ASD's Three Stars
#1 Shalrie Joseph
#2 Sainey Nyassi
#3 Khano Smith 

Scoring
NE - Own Goal (Jack Jewsbury) 12'
KC - Jack Jewsbury 1 (PK) 28'
NE - Sainey Nyassi 2 (Khano Smith, Kenny Mansally) 33'
NE - Kenny Mansally 1 40'

Line-ups
NE - Matt Reis; Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Amaechi Igwe, Sainey Nyassi, Mauricio Castro (Chase Hilgenbrinck 66'), Gary Flood (Joe Franchino 91'+), Shalrie Joseph, Khano Smith, Kenny Mansally, Adam Cristman

KC - Kevin Hartman; Jonathan Leathers, Jimmy Conrad, Tyson Wahl (Eloy Colombano 75'), Michael Harrington (Chance Myers 46'), Jack Jewsbury, Carlos Marinelli, Kerry Zavagnin (Roger Espinoza 59'), Kurt Morsink, Claudio Lopez, Scott Sealy