Updated

The New England Revolution will be desperate to claim three points against last-place D.C. United on Saturday at Gillette Stadium as the club continues its playoff push.

The Revs have lost back-to-back games and taken just one point from their previous three contests, dropping the club down the table in the Eastern Conference into seventh place.

New England appeared poised to snatch three important points at fellow playoff contenders Chicago last weekend, but Jay Heaps watched his team squander a 2-1 halftime lead with the Fire getting the equalizing goal from Mike Magee in the 55th minute before substitute Alex netted the winner four minutes from time.

"It's a difficult match for us because we had the lead twice and we let it go," Heaps said after the Chicago match. "We're not really a happy group because we didn't finish - or play well - once we got the lead or once we were at 2-2 at the end of the game. We have to be smarter on the last goal.

"We'll turn the page. I think we'll learn from our mistakes. We'll take our medicine and get back after it."

New England needs to get back after it on Saturday to get right back in the mix in a tight conference race, with a win over struggling United potentially vaulting the Revs right back into a playoff position.

One player who has been pulling his weight for New England in recent weeks is Kelyn Rowe, who has scored four goals in the team's last four games and who will once more be looked at to provide an offensive spark.

D.C. United brings a six-match winless streak into the contest and the club has already been eliminated from postseason contention.

But despite the rough season that the club has endured, head coach Ben Olsen was pleased with the way his team battled in a 2-2 draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy last time out.

"I thought we got into enough dangerous spots to end the game," Olsen said. "I thought we ended particularly well and there was a good 15-20 minutes of energy that I haven't seen from this group in a while, where we were the aggressors toward the end, physically."

The game marked just the third time in league play that United has scored multiple goals this season, and it coincided with the return of Chris Pontius to the lineup who started for the first time in eight games.