New York Red Bulls 1, FC Cincinnati 0 | 2019 MLS Match Recap

The New York Red Bulls longest tenured player came up with one of the club’s biggest goals of the 2019 season Saturday night at Red Bull Arena. 

Connor Lade, who was signed by the club in Dec. 2011, scored the lone goal to lift New York to a 1-0 win over FC Cincinnati, snapping the club’s five-match winless streak.

Brian White latched onto a lobbed ball just by Alex Muyl inside the 18-yard box and laid his header off to Danny Royer, who played a backheel that Lade ran onto and smashed under the crossbar from 17 yards out.

The Red Bulls scored the game’s first goal for the first time since a season-opening 1-1 draw against Columbus Crew SC with Lade capping a well-worked sequence in the 38th minute.

Darren Mattocks came off the substitute’s bench and nearly had a 65th-minute equalizer when he rounded Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. But the Jamaican international put his shot off the near post.

Six minutes later, Roland Lamah ran onto a backward header by Michael Murillo and unleashed a half volley that caromed off the same post and then Kendall Waston headed off the crossbar after Robles went out to challenge a ball served into the box in second-half stoppage time.

Goals

• 38’ — RBNY — Connor Lade | WATCH

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: The Red Bulls can claim they weren’t a desperate team, but they played like one on Saturday night, with Chris Armas shaking up his starting XI and lineup and his team responded in kind with a gritty much-needed win. FC Cincinnati had chances, especially after halftime, but they failed to score for a third consecutive defeat.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH
: The goal was a thing of beauty, a thunderous, well-placed blast. But the buildup was simply exquisite.

MAN OF THE MATCH: When you score for the first time in nearly three years and it’s a goal that snaps a five-match winless streak, you deserve Man of the Match accolades. Take a bow Connor Lade.

Next Up

• RBNY: Saturday, May 4 vs. LA Galaxy (2 pm ET | ESPN, TSN)
• CIN: Wednesday, May 1 at Philadelphia Union (7:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, on DAZN in Canada)