NYCFC picked up their third win on the trot Sunday night against the New England Revolution. The comeback victory featured a late David Villa equalizer and an extremely late winner from Jonathan Lewis, who now has two goals in his last two games.
Here's the story as told by the boys in Blue...
Jonathan Lewis on his last-gasp winner
Patrick Vieira on Jonathan Lewis
"Jonathan just needs to keep working hard in training," said the gaffer. "When you come in as a rookie, you always need time to adapt to the quality of the MLS, the tempo of MLS, and try to understand the game better because of the players you are surrounded by.
"He's been working really well, he's been working really hard, and all the good things he's been doing on the field are because, since the very first day, he's always got his focus right.
"When you work hard and you work well, you get rewarded."
READ: Vieira: Our Depth is Our Strength
David Villa on Jonathan Lewis
"He plays the same way he trains so that’s a good point for us, he is a great player but he needs to play games because he has only played 5 or 6 games as a professional but the most important is that he is not afraid.”
WATCH:Match Highlights: NYCFC 2-1 New England
Sean Johnson on Playoff Push
“Points are important. At this point in the season, every point matters. You can see now, I think with nine games left, teams are really pushing to scrape together points. And we put ourselves in a position this season to be in a good spot to push late on, so we gotta keep going. Continue to keep building. And I think as long as we keep putting performances together, I think we’ll be alright.”
Villa on scoring his 19th Goal
“I’m happy so far, I saw this week a statistic of the possibility to break the record this season… I hope, because these goals give a lot of point to the team but my focus now is rest this night and focus on scoring the 20th, not thinking about the 27th or 28th, I’m thinking about the 20th and after that the 21st. I try my best to score the most goals possible because I know that if I score a lot of goals NYCFC gets a lot of points.”
READ: 5 Things: These Boys Just Don't Quit
Mikey Lopez on his Versatility
"I played outside back with the U-18 National team, I played as a winger with the National Team as well, so throughout my career, it's been something that i've learned to do. I've learned multiple positions and I'm comfortable with whatever Coach thinks he needs on the day, and I'll be there for whatever.
"I'm here for whatever the team needs If the team needs me to play 90 minutes, I'm there, I'm ready. If I need to play a minute, like the two games before, I'll play the minute and I'll play the hardest minute of my life."
Vieira on Supporters' Shield Race
“Yes it was important to win, because it’s good to get close to Toronto, but I believe Toronto is already the champions. I think the other teams are going to fight for the second spot and Toronto will win the league. You saw it on (Saturday) night. They are really strong and I don’t think anybody will catch them.”
Jay Heaps on New England's Gameplan
“I think that was part of the thought process,” Heaps said. “Get strong guys — you know it’s a smaller field, you know it’s going to be quick turnovers, second balls, things in the air. We felt if we battled them for 60 minutes, then we bring in the right pieces and, unfortunately, the Benji yellow card hurt us, because it didn’t seem like he was going to get himself back in. You just can’t allow two chances in the last 15 minutes of a game like that.”
PHOTOS:NYCFC 2-1 New England
