New York Red Bulls hitman Bradley Wright-Phillips named MLS Player of the Week after rivalry brace

New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips has been voted Major League Soccer’s Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 10 of the 2015 MLS season.

In Sunday’s historic first meeting between the Red Bulls and New York City FC, Wright-Phillips rose to the occasion, netting a brace to hand the Red Bulls a 2-1 victory in front of a packed Red Bull Arena. With his two-goal performance, Wright-Phillips is now RBNY's fifth all-time leading goal scorer with 33 tallies and is tied for third in club history in multi-goal games with seven.

• New York Red Bulls 2, New York City FC 1 | MLS Match Recap

Last year’s MLS Budweiser Golden Boot winner notched the first goal in the New York derby’s history in the fourth minute with some help from teammate Lloyd Sam. Sam received the ball just outside the area and sprinted towards the byline, then created space to pick out Wright-Phillips right in front of goal. “BWP” effortlessly volleyed his shot past NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders from close range.

The Red Bulls were reduced to 10 men in the 36th minute. But that didn’t stop the home side, as Wright-Phillips earned his second of the night just seven minutes into the second half. After defender Kemar Lawrence cleared a New York City attacking threat, the Red Bulls quickly hit on the counter, with Sam finding an open Sacha Kljestan on the left side with a wonderful switch.

Kljestan then played a square ball to an unmarked Wright-Phillips inside the six-yard box, who deftly finished past a helpless Saunders.

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The Red Bulls return to action this Friday, when they visit Western Conference leaders FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium at 9 pm ET in the second half of this week’s Viernes de Futbol doubleheader on Univision Deportes.

The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.