Alonso Martinez scored twice in the first half as New York City FC snapped a nine-game winless stretch with a 5-1 rout of the host New York Red Bulls in the “Hudson River Derby” Saturday night in Harrison, N.J.
NYCFC (12-11-8, 44 points) went from seventh to fifth in the Eastern Conference by ending a 0-3-6 slump with its first win since July 3.
Martinez notched his fourth career multi-goal game – all since May 31 – and upped his season total to 14.
He scored in the seventh minute and again the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time to give NYCFC a 4-1 lead. It marked the first time in series history one team scored four times in the first half against the other.
Martinez’s first goal came two minutes after Maxi Moralez opened the scoring following a careless giveaway by Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel.
Andres Perea, filling in for the suspended Santiago Rodriguez (yellow card accumulation), scored in the 30th – two minutes after Dante Vanzeir scored for the Red Bulls.
Tayvon Gray scored his first career Major League Soccer goal midway through the second half as NYCFC notched five goals for the second time this season.
NYCFC goalie Matt Freese made three saves while his teammates put six of their 11 shots on goal.
The Red Bulls (10-7-14, 44 points) committed an array of miscues and dropped to 0-3-3 in their past six matches and 1-3-7 in their past 11.
Moralez was standing directly in front of Coronel and easily gained possession when the Red Bulls’ goalie coughed up the ball. He finished off the goal by cutting past Daniel Edelman and slipping a right-footed shot past Coronel.
Another giveaway led to a two-goal lead when Edelman lost the ball to Martinez, who sped past Andres Reyes and tucked in a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner.
Vanzeir made it a one-goal game on a set piece by burying a shot into the bottom left corner off a feed from Lewis Morgan. NYCFC responded quickly when Perea finished off a lunging header by the right side of the net.
Martinez found his second goal when he was wide open in the middle of the box and sent a shot past Coronel following a long pass from Kevin O’Toole.
–Field Level Media
