– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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HARRISON, NEW JERSEY — After almost a month without defeat, the New York Red Bulls finally enjoyed that winning feeling before it goes another month without knowing how that will feel again — at least in league play.
Lewis Morgan scored each side of halftime, and a long-distance golazo from Kyle Duncan was the pick of the litter during the Red Bulls’ 3-1 victory over FC Cincinnati at Red Bull Arena on Saturday evening. New York now heads into the Leagues Cup competition, and the break from MLS play that comes with it, by securing their first victory since June 22.
It’s not as if the Red Bulls hadn’t been getting results over those last stretch of games, but finding a win proved mightily elusive as New York had drawn each of their last four games and six of their last seven contests. But it took just seven minutes for the Red Bulls to break the scoreless deadlock, with Elias Manoel getting the better of Cincinnati defender Ian Murphy on a long ball toward the center circle, controlling the ball and turning on Murphy before sprinting half the field toward the goal. From there, Manoel spotted Morgan, whose toe poke on goal kissed off the inside of FC Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano’s left post and into the net.
The score remained 1-0 at halftime, and Red Bulls keeper Carlos Coronel kept it that way early in the second half, when he made a save on a corner kick from midfielder Pavel Bucha that was curling into the top corner before Coronel’s diving parry.
Shortly thereafter, the Red Bulls doubled their lead after a clearing header from an FC Cincinnati defender landed at the feet of Duncan, and the left back set himself before firing a right-footed shot from close to 25 yards out that took a slight deflection before flying into the top corner to double New York’s lead in the 52nd minute.
Morgan then added his second of the game just seven minutes later. Midfielder Ronald Donkor deftly held possession of the ball amidst pressure at the midfield stripe before playing a through ball for substitute Dennis Gjengaar, who then played a cross into the box that was headed down by midfielder Wikelman Carmona. That header teed up Morgan, whose effort beat Celentano for his second tally of the game, and Morgan’s 12 goals on the season now moves him into the top 10 in the league in .
FC Cincinnati got a consolation goal in the 80th minute when Corey Baird’s goal, initially ruled offside, was allowed to stand after replay.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Roberto Carlo. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are eight pictures in total.
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