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Crew, Revs set for massive clash in Columbus

Sep 19, 2014 - 9:11 PM Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - The Columbus Crew and the New England Revolution will square off at Crew Stadium on Saturday in a crucial match with playoff implications in the Eastern Conference.

New England comes into the contest in stunning form having won its last five league contests. That stretch has helped the Revs build a comfortable cushion in third place in the East.

The last four of New England's wins have come against Eastern Conference opposition, the most recent of which came in the form of a 2-1 defeat of the Montreal Impact.

What has made the run of form even more remarkable has been New England's penchant for conceding the opening goal. The Revs did just that against Montreal but managed to overturn the deficit to collect three points.

"First and foremost we hate giving up that (first) goal," Revs head coach Jay Heaps said after the match. "We don't want to do it and it happens and I think the reactions have been, "Okay, we know we can come back." I think before we all thought we could but, we weren't positive. Now that we've done it a few times there's that belief. Even going down a goal tonight, it was clear that we were going to get our chances and we were going to have opportunities to win the game. So, I think that it's not only a belief, but it's also understanding that we've done it so there's a little bit of experience doing it.

"I think the teams that we've played, they take that goal and it almost propels us to be a little more confident in our passing and they drop off a little bit so it actually helps us a little bit, opens them up a little bit - or not opens them up, they drop in a little bit - and we start to open them up. When we're passing long and a team sits in, we're hard to defend."

Columbus comes into Saturday's game occupying the final postseason berth in the East, sitting in fifth place on 37 points.

The Crew have taken four points from their last two games, topping Chivas USA at home before getting a 2-2 draw at the Houston Dynamo last time out.

The draw didn't change the playoff landscape in the East given that the Philadelphia Union and Red Bull New York, two clubs also vying for postseason berths, played to a draw last weekend.

"It's a big point; Philly got a point today, New York got a point today," Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark said of his side's draw with Houston. "Obviously 2-0 at halftime, I think everyone would take a point at that time and we got that."