The lethal partnership of Kai Kamara and Ethan Finlay continued on Saturday as the Columbus Crew SC earned a second straight home win with a 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls.
And, for a second straight home game the home team found themselves a goal down within the first few minutes of play. Anatole Abang put the visitors ahead when Bradley Wright-Phillips knocked the ball beyond Emanuel Pogatetz and allowed the Red Bull player to put the ball past Crew ‘keeper Steve Clark from a tricky angle.
Crew SC slowly grew into the game and in the 33rd minute Finlay got the first of his two goals after Clark’s long kick found the head of Kamara who flicked it onto the rampaging Finlay to twist his way into the box and fire a shot around Luis Robles in the New York goal.
The second half quickly became all about the Crew SC offense as the home team built up the pressure and pushed for a second goal.
Amazingly it wasn’t until the 73rd minute that the Crew SC finally got the game winning goal. This time it was Federico Higuain who provided the ball to Kamara who headed the ball back across goal and onto the foot of the poaching Finlay.
The final minutes of the game saw the return of Wil Trapp who was welcomed back to MAPFRE stadium by deafening cheers and the midfielder was quickly into the action with a few tough tackles and determined runs that reminded the home crowd what’s been missing in the past few months.
The win now puts Crew SC with a 6-6-6 record and next week they travel to Montreal before a bizarre two game match up with Chicago with the home game taking place on July 19.
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Matt Ellis is a freelance photographer who covers bands that visit the city and the Columbus Crew MLS team. More about Matt can be found at Matt Ellis Photography.