Scenes from the locker room
Plus, post-game press wrap

Genuine happiness is a pretty rare commodity these days, but everyone in blue and black at Buck Shaw Stadium last night had a chance to take a big swig of the stuff. You can measure it lots of ways: seven goals in two games, two wins in a row, a five-game unbeaten streak, or a whole ton of smiling faces both in the stands and in the locker room after the game.

The post-game scene was just short of giddy. Darren Huckerby bounced through the Santa Clara gym on his way to the Quakes’ locker room, grinning and shirtless because he had thrown his jersey to some lucky fan. There was Huckerby again in the locker room, talking to the press when Ronnie O’Brien mischievously whispered something in his ear, and soon Huckerby was telling the assembled scribes “with players the class of Ronnie O’Brien on the other wing, it makes it a lot easier.”

The good feelings extended to the whole team, not just the players. Head trainer Bruce Morgan, usually a very busy man after a game, was hanging out near the buffet table. “No one is injured after a 4-0 win,” he said when asked about the team’s health. “If it was a 4-0 loss, the treatment room would be filled with people, but not tonight.”

Even coach Frank Yallop broke character for a moment in the post-game press conference.  He had just finished explaining that the Quakes’ task was made a bit easier by Shalrie Joseph’s suspension when someone asked if the win was any less satisfying because of his absence. “No,” came the quick reply, then Yallop waited as the reporters cracked up. “You’ve got to be kidding me. No, we’ve had enough times when we’ve been undermanned this season… it’s MLS and you’ve got to get on with it.”

As pleased as everyone was last night, the team is clearly aware that they have more challenges before them than they do behind them.

“We’ve still got to beat the teams that are in front of us,” O’Brien explained. “It’s a good result this week. Monday morning we come back in, we work for next week, and hopefully we can do the same against Chivas because if we keep putting wins together — Dallas lost today, Colorado lost last week to Toronto — we’re getting in there a little bit now. We might make a playoff push.”

Huckerby echoed those comments.

“It’s not one game — we’ve got to keep it going for the rest of the season… At this present time, it’s falling into place and we’re playing well, so long may it continue, but it’s only going to continue if we keep on working hard and keep on getting better.”

So far, so good. Long may it continue, indeed.

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If you were wondering why the crowd turned on New England’s Khano Smith during the second half, it’s because of a brief shoving match he got into with O’Brien. It didn’t end there — Smith tried to intimidate O’Brien with his beefy body, even going so far as to try to bait out O’Brien with a fake head butt, much to the horror of the fans on the southwest side, who took the opportunity to begin booing every touch of the ball by the Revolution player. Clearly Smith didn’t have much luck with the strategy, as O’Brien hit a picture-perfect goal to close out San Jose’s scoring — with his left foot, no less. Sometimes, a head butt just makes you a butt head.

• • •

The post-game press:

- CLS columnist Pete Ratajczak wrote the match report and post-game story for MLSnet.com, plus a story which includes  comments from Revs coach Steve Nicol, goalkeeper Matt Reis, and defender Chris Albright.

- Other match reports are available from the Mercury News, the Boston Herald, and Goal.com.

- Video highlights are available online from MLSnet.com.  New England’s post-game TV show, Revs Wrap, is also available.