Goals from David Villa, Mix Diskerud and Kwadwo Poku earned New York City FC a comfortable 3-1 home victory over Montreal Impact in the MLS this evening.
New York appeared threatening in the opening stages of the game as RJ Allen crossed for Villa, but the former Barcelona frontman could only glance his header wide of the target.
Montreal almost found an opener when Ignacio Piatti delivered a wicked corner into the path of Jack McInerney, who headed beyond the post from the right side of the box.
New York exhibited some smart passing in the opening half, although they were unable to create much in front of goal, leading Andrew Jacobson to try something spectacular from distance, only to see his long-range shot creep wide.
City finally showed their quality in the final third just after the half-hour mark when Mehdi Ballouchy picked out Villa inside the area, and he made no mistake this time with a confident finish past Evan Bush.
New York continued to push for another goal after the break and they almost found it through Allen, who tried his luck from distance only to be denied by Bush down at his bottom-right corner.
The hosts were able to grab an important second goal with just under 15 minutes to play when Poku played an inventive ball into the path of Diskerud, leaving the midfielder to finish neatly into the bottom-left corner.
The Impact did their best to force a tense finish as Wandrille Lefevre tucked home from close range, but it proved to be too little, too late as Poku returned just a minute later to restore City's two-goal cushion and complete the home side's win.
Christopher Dodd
