Dallas, Columbus settle for draw

MLSnet.com Staff

Twice Jon Busch reached back to snatch balls off his own goal line, but the Columbus goalkeeper wasn't beaten as the Crew grabbed their first point of the season in a scoreless draw with the Dallas Burn at Crew Stadium on Saturday night.

The Burn extended their unbeaten streak to four matches, a club record to begin a season, while the Crew saw their scoreless streak extended to 5 1/2 hours despite getting their first positive result of the season after three losses.

Busch grabbed an Eddie Johnson header that bounced off the underside of the bar and off a defender just before halftime. Then Busch parried a Steve Jolley header off the inside of the post before scooping it off the line midway through the second half.

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The first half featured entertaining, attacking play by both teams. The home side carried most of the early play, as Chad Marshall first rose well to meet a good cross from Simon Elliott, but his header sailed just over the crossbar. Then, in the ninth minute, Crew midfielder Ross Paule had a decent look at Scott Garlick's goal, but his effort from distance was easily saved.

But over the second half of the opening period, the Burn strike pair of Toni Nhleko and Johnson began to create dangerous chances. At the 26-minute mark, Johnson found Nhleko deep in the Crew box, but Busch was quick off his line to smother the chance.

Then on the half hour, enterprising winger Ronnie O'Brien was given a great opportunity to open the scoring when he was sent in alone from a wonderful ball by Johnson on the left flank, but his shot toward the near post sailed high and wide.

The end of the half produced not only a pair of chances for Johnson, but some controversy as well. After Busch saved well by diving to his right on the first effort, the resulting corner was again headed goalward by Johnson. His attempt struck the underside of the bar and caromed down, where Crew midfielder Kyle Martino deflected the ball to his goalkeeper with his shoulder. The Burn looked to referee Ramon Hernandez, calling his first MLS game, to award a goal or a penalty kick, but neither was given and the half came to an end.

The second stanza opened with more attacking play and a tremendous downpour. With the rain hammering down and the temperature dropping by some 15 degrees, Martino had the first chance of the half when he ran through the center of Garlick's box, but shot weakly on target.

In the 67th minute Jolley ventured forward for a corner and got on the end of a Brad Davis cross, but Busch was able to get a hand on the ball and pushed it onto his right post. It fell behind him onto the goal line, but once again the Crew 'keeper was able to pounce on it before it crossed the line completely.

O'Brien had another opportunity near the end when he tried to chip Busch, who was venturing from his line, but his effort didn't have enough pace and Busch wasn't troubled.

There was a final tense moment for the Burn when Jolley had to be taken from the field on a stretcher after cracking heads with Marshall in a heading duel on a corner kick. The Burn were already without another first-choice center back in Cory Gibbs, who suffered a groin injury in last weekend's victory against Kansas City.

Dallas returns home next week to the Cotton Bowl where they will host the Los Angeles Galaxy (4 p.m. ET; ESPN2) in a battle for the top spot in the Western Conference. Columbus will visit Freddy Adu and D.C. United at RFK Stadium at 7:30 p.m. ET (FSW/FSE).

MLS Man of the Match: Ronnie O'Brien (Dallas Burn)

Scoring Summary: NONE

Dallas Burn -- Scott Garlick, Philip Salyer, Matt Behncke, Steve Jolley (Carey Talley 80), Chris Gbandi, Ronnie O'Brien, Brad Davis, Simo Valakari, Eric Quill, Eddie Johnson, Toni Nhleko (Bobby Rhine 75).

Substitutes Not Used: Jeff Cassar, Jason Kreis, Oscar Pareja.

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Ronnie O'Brien 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Ronnie O'Brien 2); FOULS: 15 (3 tied with 3); OFFSIDES: 2 (Eddie Johnson 1, Eric Quill 1); CORNER KICKS: 4 (Brad Davis 4); SAVES: 6 (Scott Garlick 6)

Columbus Crew -- Jon Busch, Steven Herdsman, Robin Fraser, Chad Marshall, Frankie Hejduk, Ross Paule (Duncan Oughton 76), Simon Elliott, Kyle Martino, Brian Maisonneuve (Chris Wingert 57), Edson Buddle, Jeff Cunningham.

Substitutes Not Used: Clint Baumstark, Eric Denton, Manny Lagos, Erick Scott, Jamal Sutton, David Testo, Jake Traeger.

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Edson Buddle 4, Kyle Martino 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Kyle Martino 3); FOULS: 11 (Brian Maisonneuve 2, Kyle Martino 2); OFFSIDES: 4 (Edson Buddle 3); CORNER KICKS: 8 (Simon Elliott 8); SAVES: 4 (Jon Busch 4)

Misconduct Summary:
CLB -- Edson Buddle (caution; Reckless Foul) 24
DAL -- Chris Gbandi (caution; Professional Foul) 30
CLB -- Brian Maisonneuve (caution; Professional Foul) 55
DAL -- Simo Valakari (caution; Professional Foul) 76

Referee: Ramon Hernandez
Referee's Assistants: -Jose Andrade; Steven Taylor
4th Official: Alex Prus
Attendance: 13,271
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-75-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial