Montreal’s September heat wave and heavy rain were not an issue for New York City FC. Keeping control for most of the game, NYCFC cruised to a 1-0 victory thanks to Jack Harrison’s 29th minute strike.
NYCFC applied a tremendous amount of pressure on Montreal from the opening whistle. As the first half went on, the Impact’s defense cracked at the 29th minute.
Harrison hit the ten goal mark for the first time in his MLS career to open the scoring for the visitors. The first overall pick in the 2016 MLS Superdraft crafted a give-and-go pass play with Rodney Wallace on the left flank to get through on goal and beat Evan Bush with a strike headed towards the far side of the net.
Despite the Impact’s change at halftime, bringing out Victor Cabrera and adding Andres Romero in order to have a four-man backline, NYCFC kept putting the pressure on them
The latter part of the game became a goalkeeper showcase. The team in sky blue was blocked in their tracks by Bush, whereas Sean Johnson was keeping the hosts from adding an equalizer.
At the 55th minute, the Impact goalkeeper showed he would try to keep his team in the game by denying a goal for a wide open Khiry Shelton.
On the other end of the pitch, Sean Johnson was keeping his clean sheet in check as well. At the 70th minute, Matteo Mancosu, who had just been substituted in, headed a loose ball that bounced his way inside of the six-yard box, but Johnson dove to his left to save one of the Impact’s best opportunities of the game.
The loss does a lot of damage to the Impact’s playoff hopes. Combining it with the Red Bulls draw against D.C. United puts them four points back of sixth place with only three games left to play. They head into the Rocky Mountains to face Colorado Rapids on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, the NYCFC win keeps them three points clear of third place Atlanta United, who have an extra game in hand on them. Next up is a trip to the Windy City for a Saturday night date with the Chicago Fire.
MAN OF THE MATCH
With his goal, Jack Harrison hit the double-digit goal mark for the first time in his MLS career. In the absence of David Villa from the starting XI, Harrison showed that he could keep backline on their heels.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
A give-and-go pass between Jack Harrison and Rodney Wallace on the left flank was enough to let the Englishman through on goal. Harrison beat Evan Bush to open the scoring, and eventually win the game.
MATCH TO FORGET
Marco Donadel and his central midfield partner Hernan Bernardello were simply not effective enough to contain NYCFC for the vast majority of the game. Despite the 1-0 scoreline, the visitors cruised to a road win.