Bruno Damiani and the Sullivan brothers fuel a statement win by the Union against FC Cincinnati

The Union finally earned a statement win over one of the Eastern Conference’s big teams, seizing the moment after an early red card to deliver a 5-0 blowout of FC Cincinnati.

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Quinn Sullivan opened the scoring, and Bruno Damiani had a hat trick, as the Union enjoyed an 18-1 shot advantage.

The result extended the club’s unbeaten run in league games to nine, and lifted them to eighth place in the Eastern Conference (8-10-6, 30 points). They’re one point above ninth-place New York City FC, and one point behind Cincinnati (8-8-7, 31 points) and Orlando City.

The Sullivan brothers started in a league game together for the first time, after doing so only in the U.S. Open Cup and Leagues Cup matches. Bruno Damiani and Ezekiel Alladoh started together up top to spare Milan Iloski, who was a yellow card away from a suspension for accumulation.

The Union struggled early against Cincinnati’s three-centerback setup, just as they did in Bradley Carnell and Jim Curtin’s tenures. But they got a break in the 15th minute when referee Joe Dickerson ejected Obinna Nwobodo after a video review of the midfielder stepping on Frankie Westfield’s right foot.

Dickerson initially pulled out a yellow card, and promptly, after the foul. Westfield took the hit and stayed down for a while, giving the review officials time to watch the play and ask Dickerson to take a look at the monitor. He didn’t stay there long before taking out the red.

The Union stepped things up in the 38th minute, when Ezekiel Alladoh hit a shot off the front of U.S. national team centerback Miles Robinson’s left arm and won a corner kick with it. (Dickerson didn’t call a handball because the arm wasn’t extended.)

The ensuing sequence saw Cincinnati’s Ayoub Jabbari inadvertently kick Neil Pierre in the face on the end line, then Evander land an elbow in Sullivan’s neck at the top of the box after he had a shot blocked. Dickerson saw at least the second, pointed to the spot, and Sullivan converted.

Damiani delivered the second at the start of nine minutes of first-half stoppage time, off a terrific team play. Neil Pierre started it with a good interception and passed to Damiani, then he fed Jean Jacques, who drove forward.

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Jean Jacques swung the ball left to Quinn Sullivan, who set up his brother for an overlapping run on the flank. Cavan obliged, then thumped a pass across the six-yard box for Damiani to slide into an open net.

Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan, a former Union assistant under Curtin, seemingly raised the white flag at halftime when he made a triple-substitution, including removing his two big stars: playmaker Evander and striker Kévin Denkey.

Damiani then kicked the flag the rest of the way up the pole in the 49th with a terrific finish, set up by combination play from the Sullivans yet again. Quinn had the assist this time, cutting to his right and laying a nifty little pass into space for Damiani to hit first time.

The hat trick came in the 61st. Quinn Sullivan started the play with an interception, combined with his brother again, then Cavan laid the ball off for Damiani. He took a touch to settle the ball at the top of the 18-yard box, then smashed home his shot.

Iloski entered in the 65th, and capped off the scoring with another penalty kick in the 89th. Another substitute, Malik Jakupović, won it when Cincinnati’s Brian Anunga bundled him over.

Some Union players appeared to want Jakupović to get a chance from the spot as a young striker. But Iloski took it, scored his 12th goal of the year, and Jakupović was one of the first players to congratulate him.