Keaton Parks scored NYCFC’s first goal. (Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)

New York City FC overcame an early 1-0 deficit to register a 2-1 victory over FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium Saturday night.

Keaton Parks and Taty Castellanos struck for second-half goals for the winners.

City improved to 11-8-5 and 38 points.

NYCFC head coach Ronny Deila was just happy the team recorded a road win before next week’s back-to-back Hudson River Derby matches against the Red Bulls.

“It’s massive because we hate to lose,” he said. “We hate to play good and not come home with anything, which is what has been happening to us. We were very, very eager to turn that around. I think we played very good.

“We got a goal against us, and we kept on playing and we were patient. … We turned the game around. We played very disciplined and very experienced when we when we were up a goal in an away game.”

The win could not have come at a better time.

“It’s really important,” Parks said. “We’ve had a bad streak of games. We are a team that always wants to win no matter where we are. We’re a team whose very confident, we think we should win every game and we try to put our best foot forward and work hard to win every game. So, losses hurt us, you know. So, this win was big for us, especially heading into a week of two derbies. We’re looking forward to bringing that momentum with us.”

FC Cincy, which played the final five minutes of regulation and five minutes of stoppage time a man down due to Alvaro Barreal’s straight red card for a hard foul on Andres Jasson, dropped to 4-12-8 with 20 points. The hosts finished the match with only nine players after Isaac Atanga was assessed a red card for a bad foul on Maxi Moralez  by referee Ted Unkel in the fifth minute of injury time.

Castellanos converted a penalty kick, his 12th goal of the MLS season on the hour after Geoff Cameron fouled Castellanos in the box. The NYCFC forward fired his shot down the middle while goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton dove to the left.

Only four minutes before, NYCFC dodged a bullet when it appeared that Brenner tallied his second goal. However, VAR ruled that FC Cincy was offside, nullifying the score.

Despite being the road team, NYCFC dominated the opening half, but only walked into a locker room with a 1-1 deadlock. The visitors outshot FC Cincinnati 12-2 in the half.

FC Cincy took advantage of a mistake by center back Maxime Chanot in the fourth minute. Chanot stretched for a long ball from the right side, but the ball came to Brenner. Brenner then deposited it past goalkeeper Sean Johnson for a 1-0 lead for the home side.

City equalized in the 37th minute when Parks headed home a left-wing cross from Gudmundur Thórarinsson past Tyton.

“Keaton has been one of our best players the last two months and has really taken steps tactically,” Deila said. “I think he has learned his position better. On the ball he is clean. He plays forward a lot, also wins a lot of challenges, runs a lot, and now also adds goals to the game. That’s a big thing. When we talked before the season and lately, we are hopeful to get him up to five to 10 goals. That’s what we can expect from him because he’s a good finisher, and he arrives in the box in really good moments. So hopefully, it’s just the start of something really good.”

NYCFC came close in the 42nd minute when Ismael Tajouri-Shradi rammed a shot off the crossbar.

 

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.