The Columbus Crew recorded a victory tonight after going eight games without a win and was cheered on from a sellout crowd helped by the dollar brats and drafts on offer. The 2-1 victory was thanks to a spectacular brace from Bernardo Anor, his first goals since the home opener back in March.
With Wil Trapp missing from suspension, Kevan George got his first start of the season in midfield. Adam Bedell received his first-ever MLS start and was given the chance to solve the Crews recent drought in front of goal.
The opening exchanges belonged to Columbus as they were dominating possession. However, there was a general lack of confidence throughout the team causing many stray passes in the final third. The usually reliable Federico Higuain was struggling to find a killer pass and poorly finished two good chances in the first 10 minutes.
On 35 minutes Montreal took the lead thanks to a misplaced pass from Parkhurst, who had earlier learned he would be playing in the MLS All-Star game this year. The ball fell to Justin Mapp, who fed Marco Di Vaio and he turned Giancarlo Gonzalez and shot beyond Steve Clark in the bottom corner.
As the second half started the winless streak was talking its toll on Columbus and Montreal had good chances to finish the game off. Their best opportunity fell to Jack McInerney after Mapp was given too much freedom to run with the ball and slipped in McInerney down the right whose shot was inches wide.
Finally something positive happened for Columbus in the 56th minute, Anor received the ball on the edge of the area from Tony Tchani and with the Montreal defense slow to close him down he let loose with a fierce drive that beat Ohio native Evan Bush to his left.
The goal seem to breathe life into Columbus and was spurring them on to find the winner. This however opened up gaps at the back and over a 10 minute period Clark had to pull off four world-class saves to keep the score level, the best from Romero’s powerful shot that was destined for the top corner.
With confidence returning to the Crew, and in particular, Anor the winning goal came in the 75 minute. Anor collected a knock down from Aaron Schoenfeld and ran at the Montreal defense and let fly a 30 yard shot that flew into the left hand of the goal giving Bush no chance again.
