Castellanos the hat-trick hero as NYCFC power past Red Bulls in Hudson River derby

New York City FC were victorious in the latest edition of the Hudson River derby, defeating New York Red Bulls 5-2 at Yankee Stadium. Valentin Castellanos scored a hat trick as the hosts moved within two points of third place in the Eastern Conference while the Red Bulls remain in eighth.

Early pressure by NYCFC paid off when Jesus Medina played the ball, switching sides to Maxi Moralez on the left flank and he curled a cross to Castellanos, who headed past Red Bulls goalkeeper Ryan Meara to make it 1-0.

Despite being badly outplayed, the visitors were level on 18 minutes as Brian White's strike from range beat Sean Johnson and seven minutes from halftime they were ahead as Cristian Casseres Jr.'s shot deflected off of Maxime Chanot, sending Johnson the wrong way.

Moralez sent a nifty touch pass to Castellanos and his through ball found Gary Mackay-Steven who clipped his shot past Meara to send the match even at 2-2 in the locker room.

Six minutes into the second half, Alex Ring put NYCFC back in front with a stunning 25-yard curler from a Medina throw-in which hit the underside of the bar, giving Meara no chance to make the score 3-2.

Mackay-Steven sent in a dangerous ball to Castellanos, who saw the ball carom to him and he put the game away first with a volley from the top corner just inside the area to double the lead.

On 83 minutes the Argentinian completed his hat-trick after Moralez was dropped in the box by Tim Parker. Medina sent his effort to the left, Meara diving to his right to provide the final margin of victory and extend NYCFC's unbeaten run in this derby to six games.