[dropcap]D[/dropcap]espite giving up an early goal, Ethan Finlay scored a brace with the help of Kei Kamara to give Columbus Crew SC a crucial win at home Saturday night.
Ethan Finlay scored a pair of goals to overcome an early deficit and give Columbus Crew SC a much needed victory. Pit file photo
Finaly notched the go-ahead score in the 74th minute when Federico Higuain lobbed the ball into the box. Kamara took the ball and used his head to put it in position for Finlay to knock the ball home in the lower left corner.
“It’s great but what’s more important is we got the win,” Finlay said after the match about his two-goal performance. “So yeah, I’m extremely happy with the way that we played … We created a lot of chances this evening and it’s three points for us going forward.”
The New York Red Bulls struck first in the contest, putting the Black and Gold in a familiar 1-0 deficit early in the game.
Bradley Wright-Phillips put the ball behind the Crew SC defense in the 8th minute, allowing Anatole Abang to collect it and maneuver around Emmanuel Pogatetz. Abang hit his target from a tough angle to put the ball past Steve Clark.
“We’re still disappointed and all those guys will tell you that they’re still upset and I know Steve wants that back,” Finlay said about the NYRB goal. “We probably deserve in some of our more recent games, but we’ve been a little unfortunate. So, we need to figure it out; we need to tighten it up back there.”
“Yeah, you don’t want to go down in a game but it seems the past few games at home going down as woken us up,” Kamara added about the NYRB goal. “If that’s what it takes to win the games then fine, we’ll take it. But, it’s not good.”
Finlay and Kamara would switch usual roles in the 33rd minute as Crew SC put away the equalizer.
League-leading scorer Kei Kamara headed a ball from Clark and found the league leader in assists streaking. The winger made a hard cut in the box and placed a shot with his left foot past NYRB goalkeeper Luis Robles.
Clark earned a rare spot on the scorecard for his assistance on the equalizer.
‘Team game, really. Team game. I told you guys early in the year that yeah, I was scoring goals but what if teams start figuring me out and blocking me from scoring goals,” Kamara said. “It’s definitely a team game as you can see with that second goal when a great ball goes from Federico to me to Ethan.”
Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said that Finaly’s work rate was once again phenomenal.
“I can say that about a lot of guys. We’ve had a tough stretch this last month or so with games that this was our ninth game in just over a month. So we’ve been grinding,” Berhalter said. “To see some of these performances – including his – is pretty good.”
The win puts Crew SC in a three-way tie for second place in the Eastern Conference at 24 points with Orlando City SC and the New England Revolution. D.C. United sits comfortably in first with an 11 point lead.
Columbus will take a little bit of a break before hitting the road for a pair of road matches, beginning with Montreal on Saturday and then the Chicago Fire on July 15.
Editor’s note: The Pit will be at Toyota Park for the July 15 match against Chicago.
