Khano Smith has brushed off claims Revolution's post-season success is based on negative football ahead of tomorrow's Eastern Conference Championship insisting: "Results take priority over performance."

Criticism was levelled at Steve Nicol's perennial MLS Cup favourites following their 'backs against the wall' play-off victory over New York Red Bulls last weekend.

The former Liverpool stalwart told the Boston Globe: "We wanted to play and go forward but, at the end of the day, who cares? We came to get a result and we defended properly and concentrated for 90 minutes."

With an MLS Cup berth now at stake Bermudian Smith would happily take an ugly win ahead of an attractive defeat when Revolution lock horns with Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium.

"People can say what they want about the way we played against Red Bulls," said Smith, 26. "I don't think we've suddenly set-up defensively and that sort of criticism doesn't bother us in the slightest.

"A solid defence is vital if you want to win anything and we've plenty of attacking players capable of scoring goals. The truth is we had no choice but to defend against Red Bulls. After we scored they threw everything at us and forced us back, thankfully we held firm.

"The result is always the priority but that's not to say we don't want to play attractive football. It's great when you play pretty football and win."

Revolution leaked seven goals in their last three regular season contests, but kept two clean sheets in their play-off series against Red Bulls. They now take on Fire who are in midst of a ten-game unbeaten streak, but former Dandy Town striker Smith is confident Revolution can shatter that run and advance to their third successive MLS Cup.

"No disrespect to any other team in the league but we know when we're at our best we can beat anybody," he said. "We've reached the MLS Cup every year I've been here and we expect to reach the final again.

"But we know Chicago Fire are a good team and have some dangerous players like Paulo Wanchope and Cuauhtemoc Blanco as well as some very good young American players, so it will be a tough game.

Revolution are making their sixth straight appearance in the MLS Cup play-offs, during which they have played Chicago Fire on five occasions. Under the stewardship of Nicol, the 2007 Open Cup champions have appeared in five consecutive Eastern Conference Championships and three MLS Cups.

Tomorrow's match will kick-off at 8.30 p.m. (Bermuda time).