A late strike from Ethan Finlay hand the Columbus Crew a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium.
New England threatened early on and Steve Clark had to be at his best to tip Teal Bunbury's powerful shot over the bar after the forward had weaved his way into the box.
The home side were playing neat football and Diego Fagundez and Kelyn Rowe combined well to set up a shooting chance for the former, but he bent his effort just past the post, with Clark scrambling.
Columbus responded to this threat with a well-worked move and Federico Higuain could only blast his volley from inside the penalty area straight into the chest of Bobby Shuttleworth.
Just before the break, Higuain did find his range and he smashed a free kick beyond the reach of Shuttleworth into the top corner.
In the second half, the Revolution came within inches of an equaliser as Rowe was played in behind the Crew defence, but his left-footed volley was diverted past the post by Clark.
However, from the resulting corner, Rowe found AJ Soares at the near post and he powered a header past Clark to draw his side level.
Both sides had chances to win the game but the scores stayed the same until the 84th minute when Justin Meram lifted a ball over the top for Finlay, and he kept his composure to fire past Shuttleworth and earn his side victory.
Simon Sinclair
