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Crew beat FC Dallas 2-0 for fifth straight win

Aug 16, 2009 - 2:40 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (STATS) - FC Dallas knew what was coming, yet couldn't stop Chad Marshall scoring off a corner kick or the Columbus Crew from extending their win streak to five.

Marshall scored his fourth goal - and third off a set piece using his head - of the season in the 10th minute, and Eddie Gaven added an insurance goal in the 87th for a 2-0 victory.

Columbus (10-3-9) remained first in the Eastern Conference by running its unbeaten streak to 6-0-2 since losing at FC Dallas (6-10-5) on June 20, and also extended its league-record home unbeaten streak to 20 in the regular season.

Marshall's goal came after Alejandro Moreno drew a corner kick that Dallas disputed. Robbie Rogers bent the ball toward the far post, where the 6-foot-4 Marshall went over Atiba Harris for the powerful header that beat goalkeeper Dario Sala.

"Marshall's bread and butter game is everything in the air," FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said. "He scored a great goal. We knew exactly what Marshall was going to do when he did score on that corner. We put one of our better headers on the ball. Compliments to him how well he handled it."

Dallas captain Drew Moor said the team practiced corner kicks during the week with Marshall in mind.

"We wanted to limit their corner kicks and set pieces because we knew they were dangerous with Chad," he said.

Rogers took the corner in place of reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who connected with Marshall for four goals on corner kicks last season. Schelotto had missed the previous four games with a hamstring strain, but came on in the 90th minute to a standing ovation.

Marshall said Rogers serves a different ball than Schelotto, though the results were the same.

"Robbie kind of likes to hit them far post so that's where I made my run but they both serve a good ball," Marshall said. "I got good placement on it. (Sala) couldn't get more than a finger on it,"

Gaven, normally a starter, entered in the 75th minute and had fresh legs to score. He broke free at midfield and went unimpeded until he was 17 yards from the goal, then fired with his left foot.

"I was ready to come on if need be and was," Gaven said. "Whenever you come off the bench you have so much energy that it actually helped because the other team looked a little tired."

Columbus goalkeeper William Hesmer recorded his third straight shutout, preserving it in the 72nd minute when he knocked a close-range header from Jeff Cunningham over the bar.

"A lot of compliments to the Columbus style of play," said Hyndman, whose side failed to earn a third straight victory. "They really knock it around a lot. They get forward quickly and their flanks are killers."

The Crew's home attendance of 19,115 was a season high.