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Impact hope to play spoiler against Crew

Sep 26, 2014 - 8:29 PM Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - The Columbus Crew aims to continue its playoff push on Saturday at Crew Stadium against the last-place Montreal Impact.

Columbus enters the weekend holding the fifth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, two points clear of the sixth-place Philadelphia Union.

The Crew is coming off a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution that saw Federico Higuain score the lone goal in the 48th minute to hand his side three valuable points.

"I thought it was a pretty gritty performance from us against a good team," said Crew midfielder Wil Trapp when assessing his team's performance. "We made up some ground in the Eastern Conference which is huge. I am really proud with how we stuck together as a team. Some guys made mistakes, and that is why we have teammates. We stepped up for each other, and that is why we won the game."

The win was the Crew's fourth in six games, and if the club wants to reach the postseason for the first time since 2011, it will need a strong push over the final five games of the campaign.

That final stretch starts with a win over Montreal on Saturday because Gregg Berhalter's team will close the season with four games against playoff contenders, including the next three on the road and two against the Union.

Montreal will try to spoil things for the Crew despite already being eliminated from playoff contention.

The Impact has managed just six wins in 29 games, but one of them came last weekend in a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes that saw Jack McInerney and Dilly Duka each score in the last 10 minutes.

For McInerney, the goal was a big relief as it was his first since a two-goal effort against Houston on June 29.

"It's definitely been a while since I scored and having games go by without scoring is frustrating," said McInerney. "It was a relief for me and for the team today to finally get one in."

The Crew will be hoping to continue their run of success at home against Montreal with Columbus having won all four meetings between the sides at Crew Stadium.