Bakrar goal leads New York City FC to 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls

By Chris Tsakonas

New York City FC has the first Hudson River Derby win since 2022 after beating the New York Red Bulls 2-1 at Citi Field tonight. Hannes Wolf opened the scoring in the third minute for New York City, with Cameron Harper equalizing in the first minute of first half stoppage time for the Red Bulls and Mounsef Bakrar getting the match winner in the 64th minute.

Here are three observations from New York City’s sixth win in the last seven matches.

Bakrar ends drought at critical time

Mounsef Bakrar entered tonight’s Hudson River Derby without scoring a goal in his last 17 appearances. Six minutes after coming into the match for starting striker Jovan Mijatovic in the 58th minute, Bakrar ended up becoming the hero of the match when he buried a cross from Tayvon Gray to put New York City back in front.

First-year duo contributes again

New York City’s early lead was created by two first-year players, as Malachi Jones sent a cross to the left side of the box to set up the opening goal from Wolf in the third minute. The goal was Wolf’s second goal in 49 minutes of play.

Jones and Wolf have both played key roles in the week leading up to this win - Jones scored his first MLS goal off an assist from Wolf last Saturday in a 3-2 win over Toronto FC, while Wolf scored the would-be match-winner to beat the Philadelphia Union 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Jones now has one goal and one assist in the last three matches as he continues to fill a bigger role with the club in his rookie season.

“He's dynamic, he's quick, he's really agile with the ball, he's a good dribbler,” head coach Nick Cushing said. “Of course, coming into the professional game he's got a lot to learn, but I don't worry about that based on his humility and his work ethic.”

New York City rise continues

With the win, New York City have now taken 18 out of 21 points in the last seven matches - and it has moved the club up to third in the Eastern Conference live standings with 23 points on the season. During that stretch, New York City have scored 13 goals with a +6 goal differential - a stark contrast to the start of the season, where New York City lost four of the first five matches with a -4 goal differential and only three goals scored

“I said to the boys before the game, it's gonna be a tough one because it's going to be a tight one,” Cushing said. “Just take confidence from the form of the team. If you take confidence and do the same things that you've been doing, you've got a good chance of continuing the form.”

Next Up

New York City FC will head back on the road for a match against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night. New England will come into the match as the Eastern Conference's last-place team after falling 3-0 to the Philadelphia Union tonight.

Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will have the live radio coverage beginning at 7:15 P.M., which can be heard at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.