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Marshall, ex-Galaxy players extend Crew's hold on LA

Jun 24, 2007 - 6:41 AM CARSON, California (Ticker) -- Even after adding some key offensive pieces, the Los Angeles Galaxy could not break the hold the Columbus Crew have over them.

Chad Marshall scored in the 15th minute as the Crew downed the Galaxy, 3-2, on Saturday.

On Wednesday, forward Carlos Pavon signed with Los Angeles after recording 41 goals in 67 games for Honduras and, one day later, the Galaxy acquired veteran midfielder Chris Klein from Real Salt Lake.

Only Klein played Saturday, but he could not stop Columbus from extending the Los Angeles' winless streak against the Crew to seven games.

"I don't know on Carlos, we're still waiting for his work paper," Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said in regards to when he thought Pavon would arrive. "As far as Chris, it's not easy for players coming into a game for the first time with a team he hasn't played with and the team not playing as well as it should. I'm making absolutely no excuses for that.

"Overall, I thought he (Klein) wasn't that bad. It's not easy for him. He's a right-sided midfielder. At the start of the game, we couldn't play Peter (Vagenas) in the middle, so we had to play Chris in the middle, so he was playing a little out of position. Unfortunately, that's what we had to ask of him at this time."

In the 15th minute, Marshall used his 6-4 frame to crash the box on a free kick from Guillermo Barros Schelotto and sent a header past diving Los Angeles goalkeeper Joe Cannon for the first goal of the contest.

"It's just a diagonal run into the box," Marshall said. "(It's) something we work on in training all the time and I was fortunate to get on the end of it."

"We went a long period - I think almost 18 months - where we hadn't scored a goal on a set piece and, now, I think we have like four," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "It was a good goal for Chad. He's done well. He's playing with a lot of enthusiasm and spirit."

Columbus played shorthanded for the majority of the game, however, as Ezra Hendrickson was red-carded and ejected in the 29th minute for a crunching tackle on Klein, leaving the Crew one man short for over 60 minutes.

The red card led to chippy play thereafter, including two yellow-card reckless fouls on the Galaxy.

Ex-Galaxy players Ned Grabavoy and Alejandro Moreno each scored in the second half for Columbus, which won consecutive games for the first time this season.

"It's special; it means a lot," Grabavoy said. "To win a game like this on the road playing a man down is what's really important and means more to me. To be honest, the Galaxy team really isn't anybody that I've played with. It's a completely different team and I have to concentrate on doing the best I can for Columbus and coach Schmid."

"I think it's a credit to us and the work that we were putting out," Moreno said. "Whenever we had the ball, we managed to be dangerous and take advantage of counter-attacks. We just tried to keep the ball in their half of the field and create chances for ourselves."

Moreno's goal, in particular, came via a corner kick in 84th minute and seemed to exploit Los Angeles' halftime switch from four men back to three.

Gavin Glinton scored in the 66th minute and Edson Buddle in stoppage time for Los Angeles, which despite a furious late rally failed in their bid to grab back-to-back wins for the first time this season.