The New York Red Bulls picked off Toronto FC on the road Saturday to start their first win streak of the 2013 season. In the face of vocal criticism, Tim Cahill silenced his doubters with a two-goal performance, saving the victory after a terrible mistake by NY goalkeeper Luis Robles.

FULL HIGHLIGHTS

THE GOOD

Tim Cahill. Since joining the Red Bulls last July, Tim Cahill's tenure has been marked by two things: high praise for his work ethic and leadership skills, and an increasing amount of criticism that he hasn't been scoring. ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman has been his most vocal critic, repeatedly claiming that hard work alone is not worth a $3.5M salary in a league like MLS. Twellman beat the drum again after last Sunday's ESPN coverage, and got into it with some RBNY fans on Twitter—until Cahill went off, telling fans"Please don't entertain this muppet...let him keep sucking on that lemon."

Twitter is always good to get people talking, but it helps if you can back it up—and back it up Cahill did. The Australian finally found the back of the net by firing through traffic after a Thierry Henry dummy, his first goal in 2401 minutes. Late in the game, after a defensive mistake saw the game leveled, Cahill again rose to the occasion. Scoring what is essentially the Cahill trademark goal, his towering header on a Thierry Henry cross sealed the game in the 89th minute.

The look on Cahill's face as he finally got to break out his goal celebration on the opener —boxing a corner flag—showed nothing but relief and joy. And as for "the muppet" Twellman—he's liking them apples.

Another strong defensive performance. The back four seems to be set now, with odd couple pairing of Markus Holgersson and Jamison Olave keeping TFC nuisance Robert Earnshaw out of the game. Brandon Barklage and Roy Miller were serviceable out wide—Miller's tenacity going forward into the attack was directly responsible for Cahill's first goal.

THE BAD

The midfield missing Dax McCarty. A high level of panic set in when news of McCarty's torn quad left training camp on Wednesday. Expected out for a minimum of two weeks, the injury robs RBNY of the heart of their team and the skills of one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the league. The absence lead to some sloppy play in the midfield; sure, the team did win, but coach Petke was quick to point out it "was not the most beautiful soccer".

MLS scheduling making the team look better than they are. The win bounced the Red Bulls to second place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points. But there's a big asterisk on that: thanks to the lunacy of the MLS schedule, New York has played anywhere from one to three games more than every other team in the East. On a points-per-game basis, the team ranks fifth, with Philly right on their heels. They'll need to keep maximizing points if they're going to keep control of their destiny after the games in hand are played out.

THE UGLY

Luis Robles on Toronto's goal. Once a month, we're left scratching our heads at just what the hell is going through Robles' head, and his mistake this time nearly cost the Red Bulls two points. On a free kick from distance, with plenty of defenders in the box, Robles came all the way to the top of the 18 to try and punch the ball away. Toronto recovered the ball, squared it to Jonathan Osorio, who floated a beautiful shot from distance that pinged off bottom the crossbar to level the game.

Robles was bailed out by Cahill minutes later, but poor decision making will keep him on the hot seat. With Kevin Hartman continuing to come along in his preparation, and Ryan Meara being moved up to "Questionable" on the injury sheet after his long recovery from hip injury, Robles can't keep giving up these goals if he wants to keep his job.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Red Bulls will stay on the road next weekend and travel to Columbus to take on a misfiring Crew. Columbus looks great on paper with talent like Federico Higuain, but has struggled quite a bit this year, especially at home—outside of yesterday's 3-0 thrashing of a league-worst DC United, they're 0-0-2 with only two goals scored at Crew Stadium. Unfortunately for NY, the match starts another three game week—Montreal come to Red Bull Arena the following Wednesday, and New York heads to New England the following Saturday.

POST-MATCH REACTIONS

Coach Mike Petke on Cahill's performance: "The two goals today were just the cherry on the cake to be honest with you because he does exactly what we ask him to. He leads in the midfield, he plays very stingy defense and he’s a work horse. He’s an example for our young midielders to be honest with you."

Thierry Henry on the result: "I thought we played brilliantly in the first half. I thought we didn't play so well in the second half. I think it's the story of our season since the beginning—you saw the game. The first half, was like 'Wow, what a team'. The second half, you're like 'Is that the same team?' It's kind of weird. We got the three points, and that's the most important thing. I think it was a team effort."

Tim Cahill on the team being more consistent: "I think the main thing for us is we've dropped a lot of points on the road and we've played such such great football and today I thought especially in the first half we played some beautiful passing. I set one in there with Eric and pulled Johnny in from the left and had Lloyd breaking was a bit of a luxury today. It seemed really nice, but the discipline and consistency has to be there and that’s what we said before the game and I suppose a lot of people are looking at us to see if we could pull this result off because Toronto is a good team and we did it. We made it difficult for ourselves. The only way they were going to score was us making a mistake like it has been in the past. But in the end we kept knocking the door down and we got the win."

An injured Dax McCarty on Twitter after the game: "3 pts. I can now have an enjoyable weekend. Nice early birthday present, well done boys!"

Next Match: Saturday, May 4th 4:00 PM, at Columbus (TV: NBC Sports)