The Columbus Crew played to a 1-1 draw against Toronto FC on Saturday night, mounting pressure on the Black & Gold as the MLS Playoffs near. Wessam Abou Ali continued his impressive run of form, scoring the Crew’s lone goal before succumbing to injury later in the first half. Richie Laryea scored for the visitors in the second half, with neither side able to find a winner to close out the match. With the result, the Black & Gold drop to 8th in the Eastern Conference standings on 50 points, while Toronto FC remains in 12th on 27 points.

Abou Ali opened the scoring with his third Crew goal in as many consecutive matches in the 16th minute of play. Daniel Gazdag regained possession at the edge of the 18-yard box before cutting the ball back to Max Arfsten. Arfsten paused momentarily, allowing Abou Ali to stride menacingly toward the penalty area before playing a through ball in his path. Abou Ali muscled his way through a footrace with Kosi Thompson to arrive at the ball first. He took one touch forward, and with his second, poked the ball with the outside of his right foot through the legs of Luka Gavran and into the back of the net.

Unfortunately for Abou Ali and Crew fans alike, his night ended early after he went down in the 28th minute appearing to have suffered an injury to his right ankle. In the 32nd minute, Head Coach Wilfried Nancy introduced substitute Ibrahim Aliyu in Abou Ali’s place.

The visitors found their response in the 51st minute through Laryea. After chasing down a through ball from Jonathan Osorio down the right flank, Laryea fired a low, driven shot across his body with his right foot into the bottom left corner of the net, just past Patrick Schulte’s reach.

Schulte came up big between the sticks in the 66th minute to deny Theo Corbeanu. As Corbeanu drove toward the left edge of the 18-yard box, guarded by Steven Moreira, he took a touch to create distance between his defender before striking the ball powerfully with his left foot near the middle of the left post, forcing Schulte to react swiftly witha dive to clear the danger.

In the final moments of the match, Andres Herrera got fans off their seats as he nearly put the game to bed with a last-gasp winner five minutes into injury time. With numbers in the 18-yard box, Hugo Picard received the ball on the left side of the box and squard it to Herrera on his right. Herrera took a touch for control with his right foot, before whipping his left leg around to strike the ball with a left-footed half-volley across goal. Gavran sprung into action, meeting the ball as quickly as it was struck with a diving save to deny the Crew’s scoring opportunity.

The result against Toronto follows a week of mixed results for the Black & Gold.

Last weekend, Nancy’s side narrowly escaped embarrassment against Atlanta United. After a dominant performance that saw the Crew leading 5-0 within 39 minutes, a late first-half goal, two early second-half goals, and a fourth near the final whistle for Atlanta turned a remarkable first-half achievement into a nail-biting affair for the Crew. The Black & Gold managed to hold on to the 5-4 scoreline to defeat Atlanta United, though the performance presented an unnerving sense of complacency after the initial dominance. Not to mention, after scoring a first-half hat trick, the Black & Gold’s talisman, Diego Rossi, was substituted off due to injury. On Wednesday, in the following match against NYCFC, the Black & Gold lost their grip on a 2-1 lead in the final 20 minutes, eventually conceding a decisive injury-time goal in the 90+4th minute to lose the match 3-2.

With the MLS Playoffs quickly approaching, the Black & Gold will face stiff competition as they fight to secure their place. With Sean Zawadzki, Rossi, Mohamed Farsi, and now potentially Abou Ali all facing spells on the sideline through injury, Nancy’s side will need to tighten things up with a series of road matches on the horizon.

Next up, the Black & Gold visit the Chicago Fire, who trail them in the Eastern Conference standings in 9th place on 45 points. Kickoff is set for Saturday, September 27, at 8:30 p.m. ET.