COLUMBUS, Ohio – While their Crew SC opposition felt good about a 1-1 draw in Columbus on Saturday, the New York Red Bulls are rueing a second blown lead in four days.
After Bradley Wright-Phillips' goal put New York up in the 52nd minute, they seemed headed for a win. But similar to Wednesday's 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake, in which they gave up goals in the 65th and 88th minutes, the club couldn’t hold on.
An Ola Kamara equalizer for Columbus in the 93rd minute marked the second missed opportunity of the week, leaving Head Coach Jesse Marsch frustrated and angry after the match.
“It’s frustrating for all of us, because there are two games where we give away late goals and instead of walking away from this road trip and having two good performances that give us four points, we walk away with one,” he said.
“With that being said, we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t have enough guys who were sharp on the day, who had enough poise…so in some ways, a point is probably just. But giving it away at the end is no good and not having enough guys who play well is no good.”
Despite earning a draw on the road – the goal of many MLS teams heading into a match away from home – the club wasn’t happy with how the 1-1 scoreline played out, especially in the context of their week.
“I think it’s a big disappointment for us, especially these two games that we were up 1-0 and gave up late goals,” said RBNY midfielder Felipe Martins. “I think we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to stick together until the end of the game and not concede those goals.”
For Marsch, the two consecutive blown leads are a bad sign.
He said matches like the one in Columbus are moments when his team needs to respond better.
"We have CONCACAF (Champions League) coming," he said. "Guys have got to be able to deal when they don’t have enough training, when they have heavy legs, when things are tough. They’ve still got to play well. We can’t show up on the road in tough places to play and have three guys who play well.”
