Wright-Phillips breaks MLS hat trick record in win over Toronto
Bradley Wright-Phillips scored a first-half hat-trick as the New York Red Bulls won 3-0 against Toronto FC in Saturday night's MLS action.
The former Southampton and Manchester City player completed his treble inside the opening 27 minutes, making it the quickest treble scored from the first whistle of a match in the league's history.
The English striker headed his first after four minutes, showed smart footwork to make space for a powerful low strike for a second in the 25th minute, and then cracked a first-time shot into the net for his third two minutes later.
The hosts in New Jersey were reduced to 10 men by the dismissal of Gonzalo Veron shortly before half-time but preserved their lead.
The Red Bulls sit just one point behind the Philadelphia Union, who head the Eastern Conference.
Philadelphia were held 1-1 by the Colorado Rapids, the Western Conference front-runners, and it might have been worse. Colorado edged ahead with a header from Sam Cronin in the 87th minute, but Philadelphia equalized in stoppage time through Brian Carroll's strike.
Norwegian forward Ola Kamara netted a hat-trick for the Columbus Crew in a 4-3 home win against Real Salt Lake. Kamara's goals, and a Justen Glad own goal, countered Real strikes from Luke Mulholland, Jordan Allen and Joao Plata. The match had kicked off 90 minutes late because of a local lightning storm.
Goals from Ignacio Piatti, Lucas Ontivero and Didier Drogba, who netted the vital third in stoppage time, gave the Montreal Impact a 3-2 victory over LA Galaxy, who netted through Giovani dos Santos and Mike Magee.
DaMarcus Beasley's solo opener was cancelled out by Octavio Riviero's fierce strike as the Houston Dynamo and Vancouver Whitecaps played out a 1-1 draw that saw both sides finish with 10 men. Red cards were shown to Alex and Pedro Morales following a scuffle late in the first half.
Lee Nguyen - from the penalty spot - and Femi Hollinger-Janzen scored to give the New England Revolution a 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders, whose goal came from Aaron Kovar.
The San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas fought out a goalless draw, while the Chicago Fire and Portland Timbers finished their game locked at 1-1. Diego Valeri gave Portland the lead but David Accam soon levelled.
