The Columbus Crew have booked their spot in the MLS Cup despite losing 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls in their Conference Final second leg.
A late scare arrived for Columbus when Anatole Abang broke the deadlock in stoppage time, but they survived the onslaught to secure a 2-1 aggregate success.
Even with a 2-0 aggregate lead, Columbus refused to rest on their laurels and sought to kill off the tie as early as possible in New Jersey this morning.
With two minutes gone, the hosts' goalkeeper Luis Robles pulled off an impressive save to keep out Ethan Finlay's effort from inside the box, with Kemar Lawrence then hooking the ball away.
Worryingly for the Red Bulls, Robles was in the thick of it once again on eight minutes when he kept out Kei Kamara - who netted the second last week - as Crew looked in full control.
The hosts, who won the Supporters Shield, had netted an MLS-best 62 goals during the 2015 regular season, but chances were few and far between for Jesse Marsch's side.
They had to wait 33 minutes to even register a shot, but Felipe Martins's effort from outside the box flew harmlessly wide of Steve Clark's post.
Both sides had chances in the final minutes of the half, with Robles denying Kamara yet again, before Clark kept out Bradley Wright-Phillips's goal-bound header on the stroke of half time.
The Red Bulls were restricted to long-range strikes for long spells of the second half as Columbus defended stubbornly, with Wright-Phillips and Sal Zizzo both shooting straight at Clark.
A patient passing move created New York's best chance of the night as Sacha Kljestan found space in the box, but Clark produced a stunning stop to rescue his side once again.
As the final whistle approached, it looked like the visitors would hold on comfortably but a cross caused problems for the defence, which allowed Abang to head home as Clark attempted to punch clear.
New York were agonisingly close to forcing extra time when Wright-Phillips connected with another cross in the fourth and final minute of stoppage time, but his header came back off the post as Columbus held on to set up a meeting with the Portland Timbers, who had held off Dallas earlier in the day.
Callum Mulvihill
