Red Bulls celebrate Daniel Royer’s goal. (Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports)

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — For the first time since 2007, the Red Bulls walked out of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with some big smiles.

In other words, they actually won in the mile high stadium, registering a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids despite being outplayed for most of the match.

Daniel Royer and Derrick Etienne, Jr. found the net for the Red Bulls, who secured their second road win of the young season and third successive overall triumph.

New York snapped a six-game winless streak here as its entered the game with a 1-5-1 overall mark here.

Despite the win, the Red Bulls (6-3-0, 18 points) remained in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The struggling Rapids (2-5-2) are in 11th place in the Western Conference.

After dismantling New York City FC last week in the Hudson River Derby, 4-0, Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch decided to go with the exact same Starting XI against the Rapids.

Then again, who could have blamed him? In fact, that strategy certainly paid off early on as the Red Bulls did not waste much time getting on the scoreboard.

Colorado, on the other hand, suffered a big blow during pregame warm-ups as forward Dominique Badji incurred a hamstring injury and was scratched from the lineup.

Wright-Phillips, who is enjoying a banner year creating and scoring goals, set up the first tally with the match barely five minutes old.

The English striker sent a right-wing cross to Daniel Royer at the near post and the open Austrian midfielder tapped it home past former MetroStars goalkeeper Tim Howard for a 1-0 advantage.

https://www.facebook.com/newyorkredbulls/videos/10155318384820264/

Last week, the Red Bulls struck twice within the opening four minutes vs. NYCFC.

The rest of the opening half, however, was more Rapids than Red Bulls, who seemed to have lost their hunger. In fact, the hosts outshot New York, 6-5, and held a 59-41 percent possession advantage in the half.

Etienne Jr., who came on for BWP in the 66th minute, gave the visitors some much needed breathing room with a 77th minute goal. At first, Etienne Jr. appeared to have been offside, but after a review by the Video Assistant Referee, the goal was good. Etienne, Jr.’s shot went off the foot of Colorado’s Danny Wilson as New York enjoyed a 2-0 margin.

https://www.facebook.com/newyorkredbulls/videos/10155318590055264/

Videos courtesy of the Red Bulls Facebook page

Second-half sub Jack McBean spoiled goalkeeper Luis Robles’ shutout bid by connecting in the 85th minute to cut the lead in half.

During eight minutes of stoppage time, the Rapids seemed to lay siege to the Red Bulls’ goal as the ball whizzed past Robles on several occasions.

Two minutes in, Robles parried a shot by Dillon Serna. But instead of knocking the ball out of harm’s way, the ball went straight up. Several Rapids players crashed the goal and then Robles, who was pounded to the ground. Colorado was called for a foul.

Scoring Summary: 
NY – Danny Royer 2 (Bradley Wright-Phillips, Michael Amir Murillo) 5′
NY – Derrick Etienne Jr. 3 (Alex Muyl, Kaku) 76′
COL – Jack McBean 1 (unassisted) 85′
Misconduct Summary:
NY – Tim Parker (caution, foul) 60′
COL – Enzo Martinez (caution, foul) 61′
COL – Bismark Adjei-Boateng (caution, foul) 68′
COL – Jack Price (caution, foul) 88′
NY – Alex Muyl (caution, foul) 90+5′
COL – Danny Wilson (caution, foul) 90+8′
New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles ©; Kemar Lawrence, Tim Parker, Aaron Long, Michael Amir Murillo, Tyler Adams, Sean Davis, Daniel Royer, Kaku (Vincent Bezecourt, 88′), Florian Valot (Alex Muyl, 67′), Bradley Wright-Phillips (Derrick Etienne, 67′)
TOTAL SHOTS: 13; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 5
Colorado Rapids: Tim Howard ©; Edgar Castillo, Deklan Wynne, Danny Wilson, Tommy Smith, Bismark Adjei-Boateng (Jack McBean, 72′), Enzo Martinez, Sam Nicholson (Dillon Serna, 77′), Jack Price, Joe Mason, Yannick Boli (Shkelzen Gashi, 65′)
TOTAL SHOTS: 15; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 19; OFFSIDE: 4; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 1
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Assistant Referees: Eduardo Marisccal, Chris Wattam
4th Official: Nima Saghafi
VAR: Baldomero Toledo
 
Attendance: 15,691

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.