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FOXBORO - Fortunately, Taylor Twellman found the back of the net.

What with 35,402 fans on hand disappointed that David Beckham was not in uniform and unavailable for duty for the Los Angeles Galaxy, they would have been doubly distraught with a nil-nil (scoreless) deadlock.

But, the New England Revolution's all-time career goal-scoring leader notched his ninth goal of the season - after going 0-for-5 on first-half chances - in the 56th minute of the MLS match for the margin of victory in the 1-0 verdict over the Galaxy Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

The outcome almost took a backseat to the appearance of Beckham, the international superstar with Manchester United and Real Madrid, the latest in the line of European mercenaries to cross the pond to arrive on the shores of America to boost the popularity of futbol.

"I can't wait until we get going, because you can see he's good," said LA midfielder and USA National Team member Landon Donovan of Beckham. "We see the game the same way, we know how the game should be played and I think we're going to benefit long term from that." Beckham, who made his MLS debut playing 18 minutes at DC United, lamented about not being in uniform and available for duty, "because it's not an injury that clears up and is just perfect right away. There was tenderness."

New England was completing a four-match in 10-day span, "our schedule is so crazy right now," said veteran midfielder Steve Ralston. "It's a cliché, but we have to take it one game at a time. We have a long stretch and we have to take care of ourselves - guys are in ice tubs and massages."

Twellman, tied for third among MLS goalscorers this season, beat LA goalkeeper Joe Cannon to the lower left side of the Galaxy net, after twisting and turning a pair of defenders around.

In improving to 10-4-6 on the season (5-2-4 at home), New England also kept LA winless on the road (0-3-4), the Galaxy having scored just two goals during that span.

"Our next game, I'd like to see 20,000, I'd like to see the fans give us a chance," said Twellman of the overflow audience - which incidentally booed wildly when an image of Beckham, on the LA sidelines, appeared on the stadium jumbo screen in the 89th minute.

Twellman had ample opportunity to present New England with the lead by intermission, however. He took a cross from Patrick Noonan in the eighth minute and his glance of a shot hit the left post.

In the 13th minute, Khano Smith crossed the ball in from the left flank and Twellman's point-blank header went wide left.

In the 15th minute, Twellman had a right-footed shot in the box, also go wide left.

In the 28th minute, Ralston sent a cross in from the right side and Twellman's right-footed shot was denied by Cannon.

And in the 33rd minute, Smith sent another ball into the box from the left side and Twellman's header sailed over the net. "The last four, five games, I've been a little barren," said Twellman, scoring just his second goal over the past nine matches. "But, any time I get chances, I have to keep fighting and keep going."

Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis earned his eighth shutout of the season as LA generated nine of its 13 shots during the second half and four of its six corner kicks over the second 45 minutes.

"In the first half we did everything right (six corner kicks, 10 shots)," said Reis, "and we gave them very few chances.

"Whether it's 1,000 people or 50,000, you have to be aware all the time, otherwise bad things will happen. You want to put on a show, a good show."

LA had taken just 14 points from its first 14 matches of the season and suffered its sixth shutout loss of the season, while New England is now 4-1-2 over its past seven outings.

"The crowds here are very enthusiastic," said New England coach Steve Nicol. "We have a good atmosphere here, it did help us, absolutely. We're not interested in the lineups of the teams we play, we take care of our own business."

Business was good in Foxboro, Beckham or no Beckham.

CORNER KICKS - The crowd was the third largest for a soccer match in Foxboro, following the MLS Cup championship match in 2002 (61,316) and a Revs-Columbus match (38,633) in September, 1996 New Celtic Ray Allen was on hand and chatting it up with Revs' players in the lockerroom David Beckham jerseys were selling for $30 at the concession stands LA's Kyle Veris is a nephew of former Patriots' defensive lineman Garin Veris The Revs go on a two-match road trip, Thursday and Sunday to Colorado and Kansas City Ralston suffered a hyper-extended knee late in the second half. "We have to do a better job of shoring things up," he said of some late second-half miscues. "It was great to play in that atmosphere, maybe it's one game, but we hope that they come back. Once the game got going, we're paying attention to what people are doing on the field." "It was a great feeling," said New England defender Jay Heaps of the energy created by the swelling of fans. "In the first half we were all over them. We've played kind of inconsistent this season and at other times we've played really well. You want to go out there and play to your potential." New England was held scoreless by halftime for the eighth time thus far, "we deserved to win, but we should have wrapped it up by halftime," said Nicol of the wasted chances. "They had a chance to come back in the second half, they could have stolen a point."