SANDY — In the 18 minutes that led up to Yura Movsisyan's equalizing goal a week ago at Colorado, RSL had been playing with just three defenders — instead of four — in an effort to get as many attacking players on the field as possible.

The tactical maneuver didn't work out all that well — depending on whom you ask — even though Movsisyan's huge goal made all the difference for Salt Lake as it came from behind to clinch a playoff spot for the first time in history.

Coach Jason Kreis said following the Colorado match that his team probably needed to address playing with three at the back before trying it again down the road, but as it turned out, RSL found itself going that route just seven days later.

RSL had failed to score despite dominating Chivas in the first leg of the teams' MLS Cup playoff series against one another, and in the 84th minute, Kreis opted to take off center back Jamison Olave and add striker Fabian Espindola.

Unlike last week, the tactical change seemed to work out much better the second time around, as RSL went from strength to strength and capitalized on its gamelong dominance en route to a 1-0 win Saturday inside Rio Tinto Stadium.

The difference between last week and this week? It was the fact that RSL subbed one of its central defenders and not one of its wide defenders, according to Kreis.

"We didn't work on it at all, to be honest," said Kreis when asked if his team practiced with three defenders leading up to the first RSL playoff game in franchise history. "We didn't really think there would be a scenario where we would go to that, but I think the difference was ... in playing two wide backs in (Robbie) Russell and Chris Wingert. They're both very comfortable going forward with the ball, so even though you've got three, you can still have those guys pressing the issue going forward with the ball."

That's certainly what Russell was doing in the moments leading up to Movsisyan's game-winner. After pressuring Chivas by coming up the right side of the field, Russell quickly took a throw-in near the corner flag and played it to Morales, who in turn crossed for Movsisyan to back-heel the ball into the net.

For his part, RSL captain Kyle Beckerman said he thought going to three defenders helped against Colorado, and he pointed out that RSL simply got after Chivas from start to finish on Saturday — regardless of what formation it was in — and that was the ultimate difference.

"I thought last week it helped us," said Beckerman of going to three at the back. "I don't know, we just played better (against Chivas). We played like we're capable of playing. No matter what formation we were going to be in, it didn't matter. So I just think we were ready — we were firing on all cylinders."

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