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Late goal by Kamara lifts Crew to tie

Apr 20, 2007 - 3:36 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Kei Kamara and the Columbus Crew once again got the best of the New England Revolution.

Kamara scored the tying goal off a crossing pass by Frankie Hejduk in the 86th minute as the Crew pulled out a 2-2 tie with the Revolution.

Last season, New England (1-1-1) was on a drive to a second straight MLS Cup appearance when it dropped a 3-0 decision here on September 2 to Columbus, the last-place team in the Eastern Conference.

"Last year, we had a good game against New England here and we were just hoping to get some more goals against them," Kamara said. "It was nice to score some goals and I think we continue to play well against them."

In this one, the Revolution appeared as if they would vault themselves into a tie with the New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire for the top spot in the East with four points until Hejduk broke up the right side and ripped a crossing pass that found Kamara on the far end of the 18-yard box for his first goal of the season.

"We had it, we obviously had it and it's just unfortunate that things ended the way they did," New England forward Taylor Twellman said.

It was a bad break for New England as the crossing pass slipped right under the foot of defender James Riley.

"It was a good cross from Frankie, I was behind the defender (Riley) and he lifted up his foot and it came right under," Kamara said. "I was just happy that I put that one away."

"No excuses on my part, it was 100 percent my fault," Riley said. "He (Hejduk) had good position, I tried to cut (it) off as much as I could. He made a quick cross and it hit off my foot."

Kamara did nearly miss the shot, as his one-timer hit off the bottom of the crossbar before deflecting in.

Kamara might have notched another goal, but he was called offsides on a break in the 89th minute.

"I thought overall we created a lot of chances the first half and then the last 20-25 minutes we created more chances and for sure we deserved the equalizer if not more," Columbus coach Sigi Schmid said.

After Ned Grabavoy opened the scoring in the eighth minute for the Crew (0-0-3), Andy Dorman and Twellman both found the net in the first half for the Revs.

Twellman, who set an MLS record for forwards with his 36th consecutive start, snapped a 1-1 tie in the 38th minute when he took the ball away from a Columbus player near midfield before firing a low shot pass diving goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum.

It was the third goal of the season and 78th career for Twellman, adding to his franchise record.

Gruenebaum finished with four saves for the Crew, including one on a point-blank shot by Twellman in the 75th minute.

"I should have had another one," Twellman said about his career goal total. "To be honest, it's nice but I don't worry about numbers."