(Sports Network) - The New England Revolution, stuck in a six- game winless skid, are the lowest scoring team in MLS. But coach Steve Nicol is starting to feel a little better because Taylor Twellman "should be cleared to play this weekend."

Twellman could return from a neck injury Saturday against D.C. United to make his season debut and even though "it'll be tough to get 90 minutes out of him," according to Nicol, the Revolution need whatever the 99-goal scorer can offer.

"He's desperate to play," Nicol said.

New England (2-3-4) has turned to midfielder Shalrie Joseph with Twellman out, and the normally defensive-minded player has responded with three goals. He's a far cry from Twellman, though, who is one of the top scorers in MLS history.

In nine games this season, New England has scored just eight goals. FC Dallas is the only other team with fewer than 10 goals.

New England's winless skid continued last week with a 3-1 loss at Toronto FC, a game which the Revs led early after a goal by Joseph. And as much as scoring is a problem for Nicol's club, allowing goals has been a problem as well.

The Revolution have allowed 16 goals in nine games - or almost two goals a game - and need to get the club organized before the game against United at Gillette Stadium.

"If we stop conceding goals that would be huge. As I said previously it's not the goals we're conceding, ... we've not been outplayed on and all the rest of it," Nicol said. "They're just decision-making things .... Stuff that we can do better, so it's disappointing."

The Revs will still be without defenders Chris Albright (meniscus) and Gabriel Badilla (back), and midfielder Mauricio Castro (hamstring). Goalie Matt Reis is back in the lineup, though, and if Twellman is able to return, New England will start to resemble a much better side.

New England earned a 1-1 draw at D.C. United on April 17, when United scored in the closing seconds to snatch the tie. United legend Jaime Moreno delivered his 100th career assist on the winner - making him the first MLS player with 100 goals and 100 assists in his career. Midfielder Ben Olsen, who is out with a hamstring strain, scored the tying goal.

United has remained in strong form all season, going unbeaten in its last seven league matches. D.C. played Real Salt Lake to a 0-0 draw last weekend, and boss Tom Soehn felt the team was flat.

"The one thing we've done against other teams that have bunkered that we've been able to open up is because our movement off each other has been so good," Soehn said. "We addressed that at half and we started to move off each other.

"And at the end of the game we started playing kickball instead of playing our game, which is something that we haven't done in a while."

Despite the "flat" performance, D.C. did post its second shutout of the season with Josh Wicks making eight saves. Wicks made his second consecutive start and could have finally ended United's goalie carousel.

"Josh did well," said Soehn. "Josh came out of the box real well, made a couple of big saves when we needed it. But we're disappointed in the other side of it - not creating enough opportunities."

United (3-1-7) settled for a draw at home for the third time in their last four matches and midfielder Santino Quaranta knows the team - currently second in the Eastern Conference - has to be careful about dropping too many points.

"At any point you can go from first to fifth. It's just the way it is if you're not winning games. We have to stay on top of the table and definitely take care of the games at home," Quaranta said.



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