Jones Does a Slow Burn Before Galaxy Extinguishes Fire, 1-0 : Soccer: Striker doesn’t get early call but gets game winner in 85th minute.

It took Cobi Jones 70 minutes to exact his revenge Saturday night, but when he did, the reward was well worth it.

Jones was knocked to the ground by defender Francis Okaroh in the 14th minute of the Galaxy’s game against the Chicago Fire, but even though the apparent foul was committed in the penalty area, no call was made by referee Richard Heron.

“It ticks me off,” Jones said later, using not quite those words. “It makes me play harder.”

Indeed.

For the next 70 minutes, Jones and the rest of the Galaxy (18-9) gave it everything they had against Major League Soccer’s defending champion. Finally, in the 85th minute the long-sought goal arrived.

Scored by Jones, it gave the Galaxy a 1-0 victory in front of a Rose Bowl crowd of 28,316. More important, it put five points between the first-place Galaxy and the second-place Fire (15-12) in the tight Western Conference race.

And it also left Jones with a broad smile in the locker room. Last week, against the Miami Fusion in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., the striker also was robbed of a penalty kick by a bad call, but rebounded to score the winning goal in a 2-1 Galaxy victory.

Saturday’s repeat was just as sweet, even if it wasn’t the most elegant of goals.

The move originated with Roy Myers in midfield, and it was Clint Mathis, who had come into the game in place of Carlos Hermosillo with 15 minutes to play, who threaded a pass out to Jones on the right side.

Jones, playing in his 100th MLS game, cut into the penalty area, dodged around the sliding tackle made by goalkeeper Zach Thornton and then, with two defenders closing in, struck a shot that went into the net off the shoulder of Fire midfielder Jesse Marsch.

So was it a shot or was it an attempted pass to an unguarded Zak Ibsen at the far post that went awry?

“When you score, it’s always a shot,” Jones said, laughing.

“I think it was a Cobi stumble in the box and he was trying to make the best out of it that he could,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “The play that put him in behind [Chicago’s defense] was very, very good. He stumbled in the box and I’m just happy that he ended up being rewarded.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of finishes, when you look at it, but I think it was deserved.”

Jones said he wasn’t thinking about the earlier non-call after he scored the winner.

“I really didn’t think about it,” he said, “but I was thinking about it the whole time during the game. A lot of people thought it was a penalty kick.”

Not the referee, but Jones made amends in the end.

“It’s always nice to win,” he said, “especially against Chicago.”

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In other games:

Former Galaxy forward Welton scored a goal in regulation and another in the shootout as the Miami Fusion (11-17) ended a four-game losing streak by beating the New England Revolution, 2-1, in front of 8,038 fans at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale.

The teams had been tied on points, with 22 apiece, in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Revolution (10-18) is now one point behind the Fusion with four games left in the regular season.

Washington D.C. United and the Columbus Crew already have clinched playoff places in the conference and the Tampa Bay Mutiny is close to doing so.

Welton scored his seventh goal of the season in the 29th minute off a low cross from Tyrone Marshall and almost made it two in the 45th minute when his glancing header bounced off the crossbar.

The Revolution tied it in the last minute of the first half when forward Giovanni Savarese headed Mike Burns’ cross into the roof of the net for his 10th goal of the season.

In the shootout, referee Ricardo Valenzuela ejected New England goalkeeper Jeff Causey for a foul on Welton. Midfielder Joe-Max Moore went into the nets but gave up three goals in a row, and a 2-0 Revolution lead turned into a 3-2 deficit and the resultant loss.

The Dallas Burn (14-14) kept the pressure on the Western Conference leaders by blanking the San Jose Clash, 1-0, in front of 15,584 at Dallas. Jason Kreis scored the game’s only goal in the 78th minute.

Dallas goalkeeper Matt Jordan earned his league-record 10th shutout this season, bettering the previous record of nine set by Tony Meola in 1996. The Clash fell to 15-12 and was eliminated from the playoff race.