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Conrad, Arnaud score as Wizards hold off Red Bulls

Jul 11, 2008 - 2:55 AM By Patrick Madden PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Ticker) -- Jimmy Conrad and Davy Arnaud ignited a sluggish Kansas City Wizards offense en route to a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Thursday.

Kansas City (5-5-5) had not scored twice in a game since a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids on April 5, a span of 12 games.

"Tonight was a must win for us as far as I was concerned," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said. "I was extremely pleased to get the three points. When we decided to play possession soccer, we really picked them apart."

"We looked like we wanted to play from the back tonight," Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "We should have at least gotten a point from this game."

Conrad opened the scoring in the 11th minute with his team-leading fourth goal of the season, heading a shot past Red Bulls goalkeeper Jon Conway.

"It was just one of those things where we were due," Conrad said. "It starts with good service. When you have good attacking runs, it's just a matter of us getting to the right spots."

"I loved the goal Jimmy scored," Onalfo said. "It was a great ball by Claudio (Lopez)."

Arnaud's right-footed shot off the right flank past a diving Conway gave Kansas City a 2-0 advantage in the 47th minute. It was Arnaud's first tally of the season.

"Davy made a great run and had a great finish," Kurt Morsink said of his first career assist on Arnaud's goal. "We made eye contact and he made it really easy for me to lob it right there into space. I actually missed him a couple of times in Dallas and he just told me to be more aware of it."

The Red Bulls (5-6-5) halved the deficit in the 71st minute on Juan Pablo Angel's third goal of the campaign, but they could not muster the equalizer as they fell into a sixth-place tie in the Eastern Conference with the Wizards.

"It's good to see Juan scoring," Osorio said. "For the first time this season, he looked like the player we expected to see all season."

Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman made six saves to earn the win. Conway recorded two saves for the Red Bulls, who lost their second consecutive game.