Toronto FC's winless streak could have reached an unlucky 13th game on Thursday night, but instead, the Reds got a bit of good fortune in their 2-1 win against the New York Red Bulls.
With the Reds leading 1-0 in the 66th minute, Toronto's Marvell Wynne streaked past his defender down the right side and deep into New York territory. Wynne fired a crossing pass aimed at striker Jeff Cunningham near the back of the goal area, but Red Bulls defender Chris Leitch got in the way. Leitch's clearing attempt took a bad bounce off his leg, however, and the ball went into the net for an own goal.
Leitch's mistake ended up being the difference after Dane Richards scored for New York in the 75th minute and the Red Bulls couldn't get the equalizer in the final 15 minutes. It was the first own goal for Toronto in club history, and it couldn't have come at a better time for a club that hadn't won in exactly three months -- a 2-1 win against Real Salt Lake on July 4.
Wynne, for his part, didn't realize it was an own goal until he heard the official announcement.
"At first I thought Jeff made it, but then when I saw it was an own goal, I thought 'could that be credited to me?'" Wynne joked. "But I didn't want that to be my first goal, so I'll take it either way."
Cunningham had the best vantage point of the play, and said it was less a case of luck that led to the own goal as it was a superb pass from Wynne.
"Marvell played a great ball across," Cunningham said. "I was in position to have a tap-in, but the defender ... put it in the back of his net. Marvell did a great job of getting by his defender and putting the ball in the box. Credit Marvell for playing a good ball that [Leitch] had no chance to play. Either that [own goal] happens or I have a tap-in. Marvell put him in that position."
Wynne's passing prowess was on display earlier in the match when the defender picked up an assist on Maurice Edu's fourth goal of the season. Wynne was making another run down the right side when he sent a pass to Edu just as the midfielder had burst past his man at the penalty area line. Edu made no mistake in placing the ball into the left side of the New York net.
Two goals counts as an offensive outburst for Toronto FC, who are three games removed from an MLS-record 824-minute scoreless streak. TFC broke that streak on Sept. 22 against Columbus, but saw a 1-0 lead at halftime vanish after two late goals gave the Crew a 2-1 win. Last Saturday against D.C. United, the Reds again held a 1-0 lead after 45 minutes, but came up short again after D.C. scored four goals in an 18-minute span in the second half.
Thursday's match again saw Toronto jump out to an early lead and take a 1-0 lead into the half, but coach Mo Johnston warned his team in the locker room that they couldn't forget about the attack.
"I said at halftime, 'Guys we're in the exact same position -- we're 1-0 up. We've got to be tight, but we can't sit back.' If you look at it and analyze it, we were the ones who had the shots. [Collin] Samuel, Cunningham, we were getting some shots in. Even Gabe Gala tried to sneak in and get one with his right foot."
Toronto were outshot 8-4 overall in the second half by New York, but tied the Red Bulls 3-3 in shots on goal and held them without a real scoring chance until Richards' goal in the 75th minute. New York applied some pressure in the last 15 minutes, but the Toronto defenders held strong in spite of some rather inexperienced personnel. Johnston put 22-year-old Tyler Hemming into his first MLS game in the 77th minute as a substitute for Adam Braz.
"That's when you see our bench was tested," Johnston said. "That's when you see the lack of depth. Carl Robinson had to play the back with Tyrone [Marshall] suspended. You take [Adam] out and put Hemming in. It was a very testing time."
Between injuries, the scoring drought and the 12-game winless streak, there haven't been many breaks for the Reds in what has been a trying inaugural season. This win, however, gives Toronto a much-needed boost of confidence going into its last two games of the season.
"We knew it was going to be a matter of time before luck started to come out way," Cunningham said. "It's unfortunate it happened this late in the season, but we'll take tonight's result and try to finish the season on a positive note."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
