Patrick Vieira's men waited as long as they possibly could, but a heroic stoppage time strike from Jonathan Lewis gave them a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution.
It was a hard-fought game that wasn't quite as fluid as NYCFC would have wanted, but despite the choppy tempo, Vieira praised his side for getting the job done.
READ: Match Recap: NYCFC 2-1 New England
"I think today, we didn't play our best football because of New England," said Vieira. "But at the same time, we wanted to win, we have a positive attitude, we tried to create chances, we tried to play forward.