Petke delighted with ´very important´ win

New York Red Bulls coach Mike Petke labelled his team’s 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo a ‘huge result’ on Sunday.

Fabian Espindola and Jonathan Steele were on the scoresheet as the Red Bulls ended a run of three league matches without a win and moved into outright second in the Eastern Conference.

Petke was delighted with the result but said his team had plenty of work to do, particularly when in possession.

“(It’s a) huge result in many aspects. Obviously it puts us in sole possession of second place at this moment,” he said.

“It was very important after the last two games that we lost to get back to a winning mentality against a solid side.

“The only thing that I’m a little disappointed in is some of the passing. Our passing percentage wasn’t very good I’m sure today with certain players.

“But the chances we created, to come out of the first half without a goal was a surprise, because we had some very good combination play going forward, so overall obviously we’re very happy.”

Thierry Henry was also pleased with the result, and said his team were in danger of conceding an equaliser before Steele’s 88th-minute sealer.

“We did at the end what we had to do. We finished the game because it did look like at one point, that they were about to tie it, so the goal of Johnny was pretty important for us,” he said.

Australian Tim Cahill, who made his return after being on international duty, said it was a crucial win.

“Today is an important result because if we lost then it would have been dampener and also we’ve stopped the rot and now we can look to go again,” he said.

“When you get three points, it’s about starting from here and building again but I was quietly confident before the game and I’m happy to be back and happy to be winning again and that’s all that matters.”