COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — DeJuan Jones scored his first MLS goal in second-half stoppage time and Jacen Russell-Rowe added an insurance goal seven minutes later to give the Columbus Crew a 4-2 victory over New York City FC on Saturday night.
Columbus' two late goals came after NYCFC's Mounsef Bakrar tied it at 2-all in the 86th minute.
Alexandru Irinel Matan set up the go-ahead goal by heading a failed clearance to the penalty spot for a wide-open Jones. Russell-Rowe sealed it with an easy tap-in after Patrick Schulte's initial save.
Columbus (14-4-7) has 48 points from 25 games for its best start to a season in team history. The Crew have only allowed 24 goals.
Columbus also got a goal from Diego Rossi and Max Arfsten.
Rossi became the fourth player in Columbus history to produce at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a single season. Rossi joined Cucho Hernández (2023), Lucas Zelarayán (2022), and Ethan Finlay (2015) as the only players to do so.
NYCFC (11-10-6) opened the scoring in the fourth minute on a goal by Alonso Martínez.
Martínez leads NYCFC with 11 goals and three assists in 19 league games this season. He scored both goals in New York’s draw with Chicago last week, and he also scored against Columbus when they met on Aug. 17.
