HANOVER, N.J. – Effective doesn’t always have to be pretty.
For a Red Bulls side that often boasts an attractive style of play, Saturday’s match was far from the norm. But considering their previous road form, perhaps a deviation from the norm was in order.
Notching just their second road win of the season, New York navigated a tricky affair on Saturday night to edge past the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place.
“For me, it was the perfect result to win 1-0 away from home in a very complicated match,” defender Aurelien Collin told NewYorkRedBulls.com. “We were very good on second balls and managed to not concede goals. We’re very happy."
Putting in a stellar performance that earned the Frenchman Team of the Week honors, Collin anchored the backline to their second consecutive shutout while a Bradley Wright-Phillips tally powered the Red Bulls to the full three points.
The Whitecaps were wasteful with their chances on the night, but Saturday night’s match bucked a troubling road trend as the Red Bulls managed to hold onto a lead away from home for the first time in 2016.
“We had to focus in defensively,” defender Chris Duvall said. “We know that Bradley, Mike [Grella], Alex [Muyl] and all of our attackers are skilled in front of the goal, so we know we’ll get our opportunities and they’ll finish them.
“As long as we can grind out a result defensively, that’s the main focus. We’ve given up a lot of leads on the road, so to batten down the hatches and get a gritty defensive performance was big for us.”
Unlike in previous matches at Columbus, Philadelphia, Salt Lake and Los Angeles, the Red Bulls had no problem mucking things up and making it difficult for the opposition to get back into the game.
“Our worst enemy has been ourselves, so we’ve had to make sure we don’t kill ourselves with stupid mistakes,” Collin added. “That’s what we’ve done now during this unbeaten run.”
With said run now reaching double-digits, the Red Bulls have proven themselves able to see out a difficult match, even when far from their best.
“It wasn’t our prettiest game, but I felt like collectively there was an understanding of how to take care of that match and make sure we got the result,” head coach Jesse Marsch said. “It was important to get the points, but also for the mentality of the group. We’ve kept our unbeaten run going and our team is in a really good way.”
