Won for the road: Fire finally snap skid

HARRISON, N.J. — Forward Robert Beric scored in the 32nd minute, and the Fire held off the New York Red Bulls 1-0 at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night to end a 19-game road winless streak.

“Obviously, it feels really good to have an [away] win. One-and-a-half years almost is a long time,” Fire coach Raphael Wicky said. “We [have] had prettier games on the road. We [have] had games where we played much better football. But this was a great team fight, and the team showed a great mentality and spirit.”

A long throw-in by defender Carlos Teran landed among three defenders, but, after several deflections, Beric found the ball behind the defense and slipped it into the net.

Beric initially was ruled offside, but referee Victor Rivas awarded the goal after video review.

The Fire (23 points) nearly doubled their lead in the 58th minute against the run of play, but Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel did well to dive and deny Fabian Herbers.

The Red Bulls (22 points) maintained pressure on the Fire down the stretch and had 20 shots, but goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth only had to make one save for his fifth shutout of the season and 50th regular-season shutout of his career.

The Fire, who almost had a late insurance goal from midfielder Alvaro Medran that pinged off the post, picked up their second victory against the Red Bulls in just under three weeks.