Three Thoughts: New York Red Bulls beat Orlando City

This is not the time to be fussy about how the team won: the New York Red Bulls needed a win of any sort. They got it, and now - hopefully - they can move on with the bigger task of turning a hitherto terrible season into something good.

A quick reaction to the 3-2 home win over Orlando City:

1. Karl Ouimette should have been sent off

Alexi Lalas wouldn't shut up about it, but perhaps that is merely the irrepressible jubilation incurred by his rare proximity to a good point. In this case, the good point was that Karl Ouimette fouled Cyle Larin in the second half, preventing the Orlando City striker from running in one-on-one with the 'keeper. It ought to have been a red card. And if it wasn't a red card - given the situation - it ought to have been a yellow for Larin.

But neither of those things happened. Ouimette stayed on the pitch, and RBNY celebrated a lucky break by scoring three goals in 10 minutes.

This writer doesn't buy the argument that the team has been nothing more than unlucky during its dreadful start to the 2016 season, but it seems to be the only explanation the players and coach have been willing to offer. And if that's what they believe, it stands to reason they should take an obvious moment of good luck as the opportunity to break the hex. They did.

Thank you, Hilario Grajeda. Whatever you were thinking, you gave RBNY a lifeline - and they took it.

2. This might prove to be Mike Grella's most important game as a Red Bull

If Ouimette had been sent off, that would have left RBNY a goal and a man down - possibly two goals, if the ref had awarded a penalty (looked outside the box to me) - and might effectively have ended the match.

That the Red Bulls did capitalize on their good fortune can largely be attributed to Mike Grella. He scored the equalizing goal - and finishing has been one of RBNY's biggest issues so far this year.

He followed that with another on-target shot, that looked like it was going in whether Bradley Wright-Phillips got to it or not. But it floated just enough for BWP to get a toe on it: his first goal of the new season.

The suspicion BWP just needed a lucky break to get himself going was validated when he scored his second goal of the game: a confident tap-in of the sort his movement and intelligence will generate if he isn't second-guessing himself in front of goal. It took six minutes from the scrappy, not-really-deserved, toe-poke that opened Wright-Phillips' scoring account for the season to the swaggering, no-frills goal that added to it (and was the match-winner).

Thank you, Mike Grella: BWP needed that; so too did RBNY. If the old BWP is back, full credit to Grella for helping that happen.

3. We won

Ultimately, all that matters is RBNY finally won a game. Too early to say if this signals the end of the issues that sent the team plummeting to the bottom of the league over the first seven games of the season. And irrelevant: the simple pleasure of watching the team win has been too rare this year.

Thank you, RBNY - for sending us into the week ahead with a smile.