Crew Rd. 31 Win, Keep Playoff Pace

Last nights game had many faces: boring 0:0 draw - Crew blowout - to heartbreaking loss - finally settled on a somewhat tempered 2:3 Crew win.

1ST HALF
Considering the previous meetings between these two, this game was more fluid then expected. Up until the 43rd minute it looked to be a match with nothing in it but Sebastian Miranda was able to whip in a nice cross that found Jairo Arrieta for a goal.

Oddly, with no serious injury, referee Matthew Foerster tacked on 5 mins to the first half. Columbus kept the pressure on and Arrieta again found and controled the ball beautifully for brace in the first half.

2ND HALF
An uncreative Union side started charging into the box and drew an important penalty which Danny Cruz put away. Jack McInerney was inserted not long after and started to create problems for Columbus in the back. McInerney put away an effort goal around the 85th minute to tied it up.

From there the Crew aggressively slapped the big read panic button. The ensuing chaos generated a scrum in front of goal where a flick-on from Josh Williams to a Milovan Mirosevic produced a game winning goal.

Further replays would show Mirosevic in an offside position but it wasn't clear if Williams pass hit a Union leg or not.

GAME OVER, NOTES
• At times, Columbus looked like a handful of good players playing disorganized soccer. Hard to know where to go with this game.

• Chris Birchall inserted back into the lineup.

• Arrieta left the game limping. Arrieta is clinical once he gets the ball on his left foot in the box.

• Columbus is beating the teams they should this late in the year but still find themselves trying to claw back into a playoff spot.