NYCFC defeat Revolution in stoppage time

Jesus Medina converted a penalty kick in second-half stoppage time as host New York City FC moved into first place in the Eastern Conference with a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

Medina also scored in the 70th minute to forge a tie before he was presented a golden opportunity in the 96th minute after a foul in the box. Medina calmly sent a left-footed shot into the far corner of the net to give NYCFC the go-ahead tally.

Brad Stuver finished with one save for NYCFC (15-5-8, 53 points), which extended its winning streak to a season-high five matches and moved two points ahead of idle Philadelphia.

Juan Fernando Caicedo scored in the second minute and Matt Turner made nine saves for the Revolution (10-10-9, 39 points), who saw their four-match point streak (1-0-3) come to a halt and fell to 3-5-6 away from home.

NYCFC played with advantage for the majority of the match after the Revolution’s Antonio Mlinar Delamea was shown a red card after lunging to poke the ball away from Valentin Castellanos. Referee Silviu Petrescu took a second look at the sequence and determined the action had denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

Medina converted Anton Tinnerholm’s through ball from in close, giving the former his second goal of the season and the latter his seventh assist.

New England wasted little time making an impact, as Caicedo chased down a long through ball from Andrew Farrell before cutting to his right to create a bit of space on a defender. Caiedo unleashed a shot past Stuver and into the left corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season.

NYCFC attempted to answer in the 16th and 17th minutes, but Keaton Parks’ left-footed blast from the left side of the box was denied, and Turner made a sterling save on Tinnerholm’s left-footed shot bid from outside the box.

NYCFC was playing its first match without injured star striker Heber (team-leading 14 goals), who is expected to be sidelined three-to-four weeks with a quadriceps injury sustained in last Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Vancouver.