AFP, New York :
Substitute Jesus Medina converted a game-winning penalty in second-half stoppage time Saturday, his brace boosting New York City FC (NYCFC) to a 2-1 Major League Soccer (MLS) victory over the 10-men New England Revolution.
The victory vaulted NYCFC into first place in the MLS Eastern Conference, two points clear of the Philadelphia Union with a match in hand.
Medina’s penalty came after the second crucial VAR ruling of the match, with referee Silviu Petrescu ruling Andrew Farrell had taken down Alexandru Mitrita inside the area.
In the ninth minute, Petrescu used video review to confirm that Antonio Mlinar Delamea robbed NYCFC of an obvious goal scoring chance when he brought down Valentin Castellanos.
Petrescu initially ruled the infraction only worth a caution but upon a second look showed Mlinar Delamea a red card.
Medina entered the game at Yankee Stadium in the 60th minute and 10 minutes later the Paraguayan pulled New York level, blasting in a ball from Alex Ring.
Juan Fernando Caicedo had put the Revolution up 1-0 after just two minutes.
But after going down a man with less than 10 minutes gone the Revs were unable to move ahead of New York Red Bulls into fifth place in the East.
The man advantage helped NYCFC compensate for the absence of injured striker Heber, who leads the team with 14 goals this season but is expected to miss up to four weeks with a quadriceps injury sustained in last week’s 3-1 victory over Vancouver.
