Recap: Tolkin's Goal Lifts New York Over Columbus

photo by Matt Kremkau

HARRISON, NJ - John Tolkin's first ever goal in his Major League Soccer career along with Carlos Coronel's four key saves gave the New York Red Bulls a much-needed win, snapping their seven-match, winless streak, by beating the Columbus Crew SC, 1-0.

Both teams were looking to get their season back on track, with the Crew losers of their last four, matches coming into tonight's match. The Crew had had a plan in place to slow down the Red Bulls' vaunted press and to put the match on their terms.

And for much of the first half, the plan was working well, with excellent scoring chances early on. However, New York goalkeeper Carlos Coronel wasn't having none of it, stifling the Crew's attack with brilliant saves to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.

In the 33rd minute, John Tolkin started the attack by bumping Johnathan Mensa off the ball and moving it ahead over to Gutman, who dished it off to Fabio, who saw Tolkin charging in the box and he nutmegged the ball through Columbus goalkeeper Eloy Room's legs to give the Red Bulls the lead.

It would be Tolkin's first career goal in MLS in 15 matches played.

Throughout this season, the Red Bulls have developed a bad habit of giving up leads, particularly late in matches, and the problem nearly raised its ugly head again in the 42nd minute when Aboubacar Keita bounced the ball over defender Amro Tarek, where it found Gyassi Zardes who darted down the pitch looking to equal the score, but Carlos Coronel was once again able to make the save keeping the Red Bulls in the lead.

Zardes would leave the match with a hamstring injury shortly after the play.

With fatigue creeping in for both teams, the Red Bulls were able to dig deep to finish the match and secure all three points for the first time since July 4th, when they defeated Orlando City SC on the road, 2-1. The win was especially satisfying for head coach Gerhard Struber and his men, picking up much-needed momentum ahead of the anticipated Hudson River Derby match on Saturday.

Starting XI:

New York Red Bulls: Carlos Coronel; Andrew Gutman, Amro Tarek (Mandela Egbo, 73’), Sean Nealis, Andrés Reyes (Frankie Amaya, HT), Kyle Duncan; Sean Davis, John Tolkin, Wiki Carmona (Caden Clark, 71’), Fábio (Daniel Royer, 71’), Patryk Klimala (Tom Barlow, 61’)

Columbus Crew SC: Eloy Room; Harrison Afful, Jonathan Mensah, Aboubacar Keita, Waylon Francis (Pedro Santos, 51’); Darlington Nagbe, Kevin Molino (Erik Hurtado, 75’), Liam Fraser, Alexandru Matan (Derrick Etienne, Jr., 51’), Gyasi Zardes (Lucas Zelarayán, 45’+1’), Bradley Wright-Phillips

Scoring Summary:

33' - (New York Red Bulls) John Tolkin, assisted by Fabio and Andrew Gutman

Disciplinary Summary:

55' - (New York Red Bulls) Patryk Kilmala - Yellow card

84' - (Columbus Crew SC) Erik Hurtado - Yellow card

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