The Columbus Crew moved up to fourth in the Eastern Conference Saturday night thanks to a comfortable 2-0 win over the Montreal Impact in their penultimate home game of 2014. With four games left, three of them of them on the road, Columbus will be looking for at least two more wins to confirm their place in the postseason. Montreal’s wait for an away win in 2014 goes on.
The Crew got the perfect start to the game when Finley opened the scoring on 2 minutes. Wil Trapp slid a through ball that Ethan Finley took in his stride and slammed a shot high inside the near post. Impact keeper Evan Bush had to be disappointed to be beaten at his near post. This was Finley’s eighth goal of the season from 16 starts in what is becoming his breakout season. Over the last two seasons he managed only six starts without a goal or assist to his name, but the change in management has clearly given him the opportunity to shine.
Montreal responded positively after going behind and enjoyed a good period of possession, but was unable to turn this into a real chance. As the half went on the Crew started to assert their dominance with Federico Higuain coming close twice. On 30 minutes an audacious chip landed just wide after good hustling from Aaron Schoenfeld won the ball. Four minutes later a right wing cross from Hector Jimenez found Higuain rushing into the area, but he could only lift the shot over the bar.
As the second half started Higuain did get his goal from the penalty spot after Finley was dragged down by the Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare while running into the box to meet a Justin Meram cross. Higuain finished to the keeper’s right. The Montreal bench was fuming about the soft penalty and on 66 minutes the referee had enough of Impact head coach Frank Klopas’ demonstration and he was sent off from the field.
Montreal started to push forward looking to find a goal to get back into this game, and came close with a 25-yard effort from Calum Mallace that Steve Clark tipped over the bar. With Montreal pushing, the Crew were perfectly content to play on the counter attack and on 87 minutes Tony Tchani broke free. He would unleash a shot that hit the right upright and cannoned back across goal to Bernardo Anor, who could only hit the post with the goal empty. On 90 minutes the Impact had one final chance to get on the board from the penalty spot after a foul by Tyson Wahl on Issey Nakajima-Farran. Marco Di Vaio stepped up but his drive was athletically saved by Clark to his right.
