Dax McCarty was taken aback by the atmosphere that the fans provided for Sunday's first-ever New York derby.

New York Red Bulls hosted expansion franchise New York City FC at Red Bull Arena in Week 10 of the 2015 MLS season and midfielder McCarty, who was on the end of a 2-1 win with the home team, was thrilled with the 25,000-strong crowd.

"It felt like MLS Cup, to be honest," Red Bulls skipper McCarty said. "The only time I've ever seen Red Bull Arena like that was maybe the Arsenal game. It was unbelievable, it truly was.

"We tried to downplay the rivalry aspect of it, but whenever a team comes and brings 2,000 fans and they're loud and you hear them, you always want to win and shut them up.

"You could feel it was a really big game and an important game."

Bradley Wright-Phillips fired home from close range in the fourth minute before Matt Miazga was sent off for a second bookable offence just after the half-hour mark.

Despite being a man down, the Red Bulls went two goals ahead seven minutes into the second half when Wright-Phillips struck again.

Patrick Mullins pulled one back for City in the 76th minute but the damage had been done as Jesse Marsch's Red Bulls moved up to third on the Eastern Conference table as Jason Kreis' side remained eighth with just one win from 10 matches in their debut campaign.