Jermaine Jones was at it again on Saturday night, scoring his second-straight late winner to help the New England Revolution to a 2-1 win over the 10-man Columbus Crew at Gillette Stadium.
After Revs ‘keeper Bobby Shuttleworth kept things level with several key second half saves, Jones headed in a bending Chris Tierney free kick in the 67th minute to give New England a 2-1 victory over Eastern Conference playoff rival the Columbus Crew.
With the win, New England (15-13-3, 48 points) avoided a season sweep at the hands of Columbus and vaulted into second place in the East. The loss – combined with New York’s win over Houston earlier on Saturday night – dropped Columbus (11-10-10, 43 points) into fifth in the East. The Crew is just three points ahead of Toronto FC, which has two games in hand on Columbus and will play at LA later Saturday.
Lee Nguyen opened up the scoring in the 20th minute, slotting home a shot from the right side of the box after receiving a Charlie Davies redirected header off of a Teal Bunbury cross from the left side. It was Nguyen’s 14th goal of the season, setting a new club record for goals from a midfielder, surpassing the 13 scored by Diego Fagundez a year ago.
It took the Crew just five minutes to equalize through forward Ethan Finlay. Midfielder Tony Tchani made the play, beautifully threading a lead pass to Finlay, who split two Revs defenders in the right side of the box before slotting home under Shuttleworth.
The Crew duo almost connected for another score early in the second half, with Finlay collecting a Tchani pass in the area for a 1-v-1 with Shuttleworth only to see his shot saved by the New England ‘keeper.
Jones gave New England the lead in the 67th minute. Tierney assisted, with his left-footed free kick bouncing through the box before the U.S. international ran onto it to head home from the back post.
The Crew went down to 10 men just three minutes after Jones’ goal, with defender Waylon Francis picking up a second yellow after impeding an attempted throw-in from Davies in the 70th minute.
Both teams will return to action next Saturday, with the Revs traveling north of the border for an afternoon date at the Montreal Impact and the Crew heading to Philadelphia to take on the Union.
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