Martinez penalty pushes New York City FC past Toronto FC for first road win of the season

By Chris Tsakonas

New York City FC earned its first road win of the season after beating Toronto FC 1-0 at BMO Field this afternoon. Alonso Martinez scored the match-winning goal in the 64th minute off of a penalty kick.

Here are three observations from today’s match.

New York City attack gets off to slow start

As windy conditions affected both sides at BMO Field, New York City created only three shots on target in the first half - with only one of those being on goal. That chance came in the 17th minute, when Alonso Martinez got on the end of a through ball from Maxi Moralez - only to mishit the shot into the arms of former New York City goalkeeper Sean Johnson.

New York City began to create more frequently after the halftime break. The breakthrough nearly came in the 55th minute when a shot from Hannes Wolf was narrowly headed off the line by Kosi Thompson.

“We got the goal from a penalty, obviously, but we had two or three other moments where we should have scored and got more control of this game,” New York City FC manager Pascal Jansen said after the match. “Good teams winning 1-0? Yeah, it's part of the story, obviously, because in order to win these games like we did today, you have to be very disciplined, also without possession and that's what we showed today.”

New York City break through on penalty kick

New York City caught a break in the 62nd minute, when Alonso Martinez was brought down inside the penalty area by Kosi Thompson. Martinez stepped up to take the ensuing penalty kick - and he finished in the upper left corner to put New York City in front with his sixth goal of the season.

The goal came three matches after Martinez struck the crossbar on a penalty kick in New York CIty’s 2-1 loss to Minnesota United.

“We all have massive confidence in Alonso,” Jansen said. “Unfortunately, he had a glitch in his penalty sequence against Minnesota. It is what it is. He stepped up again, and that's what he does. He's a natural goal scorer, so today he proved that once again.”

Defense holds on despite late Toronto onslaught

Toronto’s best chance of the match came in the 74th minute. On a free kick, Raoul Petretta delivered a cross from the left flank that the wind whipped right towards Matt Freese - who covered up the rebound from striker Charlie Sharp.

In the 81st minute, a cross from the right side fell right to Tyrese Spicer on the left edge of the area only for Tayvon Gray to come to the rescue by throwing himself into the shot for a decisive block.

“Today, we had to make sure we secured the clean sheet with some tough defending as well,” Jansen said. “I said to the guys just now [that] we made it a little tougher on ourselves because we don't make that second goal to take all the life out of the opponent. So we had to fight until the end, and that's what the guys did, so that's a huge compliment to them.”

New York City’s back line ultimately allowed just one shot on goal on 12 total shots to earn the third clean sheet of the season.

Next Up

New York City FC will return to Queens next Sunday to take on FC Cincinnati at Citi Field. FC Cincinnati comes into this match on a five-game winning streak after beating Sporting Kansas City 2-1 this afternoon.

Live radio coverage with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence gets underway at 2:45 P.M. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio and the Apple TV home radio feature.