The Columbus Crew drew with FC Cincinnati 1-1 Saturday night at Lower.com Field in a thrilling end-to-end match that saw two of the league’s top teams battle it out for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and the bragging rights of Ohio soccer.

Diego Rossi scored the Crew’s all important equalizer, a penalty in the 54th minute to cancel out Kevin Denkey’s early strike for Cincinnati. A man-of-the-match performance from FCC goalkeeper Roman Celentano prevented the Black & Gold from taking the lead in the second half, narrowly saving multiple chances from close-range.

Despite ultimately sharing the points with an arch-rival and drawing a third consecutive match, the Black & Gold proved resilience in leveling the game despite conceding early, and once again showcased their ability to compete amongst the league’s most in-form teams.

The game got off to a rocky start early for the Black & Gold with a 6th-minute opener from FC Cincinnati’s Kevin Denkey. Luca Orellano trekked nearly the entire length of the pitch with the ball at his feet before attempting a cross, which was flicked upward by Sergio Santos and forced Patrick Schulte to intervene. In punching the ball wayward, it fell to Evander, who struck it in the air in a “bicycle kick” motion, crossing it to the wide-open Denkey who knocked it into the empty net.

Despite the early setback, the Black & Gold kept their heads held high and pushed on.

In the 14th minute, Max Arfsten nearly found the better of Roman Celentano. Ibrahim Aliyu played a neat backheel pass to Arfsten, who approached the left of the goal and fired a shot, but Celentano was quick to make a save, his body cutting off the angle toward goal.

Schulte was called to action in the 22nd minute when Cincinnati’s Pavel Bucha launched a first-time shot from the edge of the 18-yard-box toward the crossbar. The goalkeeper was quick to react, reaching one arm up to make the save single-handedly. 

The Crew got closer to an equalizer three minutes later, as Mohamed Farsi struck the ball five yards out from the right of the goal. Celentano’s leg blocked the shot, deflecting it onto the post and out for a corner.

Nerves grew in the 34th minute as Denkey sprinted down the left flank, seemingly through on goal with only Schulte to beat. But as the forward neared goal, he elected to cut the ball back to Santos, whose shot fell into the gloves of Schulte with no real threat.

At halftime the scoreline showed a 1-0 deficit, but it felt like the Crew was fully in the game, just waiting for the tide to turn. Enjoying the bulk of possession and creating several near goal-scoring opportunities, it was only going to be a matter of time before the Black & Gold found themselves level. 

In the 53rd minute, a combination of opportunity and luck saw the Crew awarded a penalty. Rossi took a strong touch of the ball in the 18-yard-box, which, unfortunately for Nick Hagglund, struck the defender’s hand. A minute later, Rossi stepped up to the penalty spot. His shot went low and left, Celentano went right, and the Crew went level with FC Cincinnati with 35 minutes remaining. 

Jacen Russell-Rowe entered the match in the 59th minute and provided a spark off the bench. 

In the 71st minute, Russell-Rowe pushed toward goal to meet a cross from Steven Morreira with his head, wrestling with defenders as he approached the ball. Despite timing his run perfectly, he miscalculated the point of contact, and his glancing header went wide left of goal. 

Two minutes later, Russell-Rowe returned with a near identical chance, this time rising above the opposition to meet a cross from Dylan Chambost with a powerful, thumping header. The quality of the shot was only bested by Celentano’s diving save that pushed the ball out for a corner.

Daniel Gazdag had an opportunity to kickstart his scoring tally for the Black & Gold in the 78th minute but came up short. Rossi dribbled with pace on a counter attack, passing the ball wide left to Arfsten threaded a pass through three defenders to find Gazdag near the penalty spot. The Hungarian forward’s first touch fell awkwardly, culminating in a hesitant shot that Celentano welcomed with open arms.

The result, as others around the league, sees the Black & Gold remain in 3rd place and FC Cincinnati fall to 2nd in the Eastern Conference, while Philadelphia Union rose to 1st in the conference with a 1-0 win over Atlanta United.

Outside of the 90-minute battle on the pitch, the match provided a strong showing for soccer in Ohio in the form of a sellout, roaring 20,363 person crowd that created a powerful atmosphere through battling, antagonistic fanbases and showcased the best of Major League Soccer’s rivalry potential. It also provided a warm return for the Black & Gold’s former homegrown star Aidan Morris, currently plying his tried for English Championship side Middlesbrough, who presented the match ball prior to kickoff.

A Crew win surely would have been fitting for the spectacle of the 17th-ever edition of the ‘Hell Is Real” derby, but there are positives to be taken from the result. The Black & Gold are now undefeated in their last five matches and snagged points from the two sides above them (Philadelphia and Cincinnati) in that run of fixtures. Despite only scoring from a penalty on the night, the Crew had 68% possession, recorded 16 shots (six on target), and constantly looked threatening going forward, relentlessly attempting to create a winning goal in the second half. If anything, it provides hope there is more to come from Wilfried Nancy’s side.

The Black & Gold look ahead to their next match, a road fixture at Charlotte FC on Saturday, May 24th at 7:30 p.m. ET.