Colorado gets two late to sail past Columbus

RAPIDS 2, CREW 1

commerce city» Undermanned but resilient, the Rapids came from behind Saturday night for a remarkable 2-1 victory, scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to defeat the Columbus Crew.

With Columbus leading 1-0 from a goal off a deflection, Kevin Doyle erased the deficit on a counterattack in the 80th minute with a sliding stab at the ball with his foot to finish a cross by Marlon Hairston. Doyle was replaced at the restart by Alan Gordon, who scored the game-winner with a header off the post in the 88th minute. The veteran Gordon, known for scoring late game-turning goals, was an offseason acquisition for the Rapids and the goal was his first for the club.

“The back line had never played with each other, relatively inexperienced at this level,” said coach Pablo Mastroeni. “I couldn’t be more proud of a group of guys that could have laid down like dogs after the first goal — things aren’t going your way, a deflection that goes in — but they stuck with each other, they believed, they fought for each other.”

The Rapids faced a manpower shortage at center back because of injuries to firststringers Axel Sjoberg and Jared Watts, plus the one-game suspension of Bobby Burling. Rookie Kortne Ford was paired at center back with Mike Da Fonte, who made only two previous MLS appearances. Behind them in goal was Zac Macmath, replacing Tim Howard, who was with the U.S. national team in Salt Lake City for a friendly against Venezuela.

For much of the first half, the Rapids were under pressure in their end, but the attack began to create some chances at the half-hour mark. Dominique Badji found himself open at the top of the Columbus penalty area on a counterattack and half-volleyed a shot saved by Columbus goalkeeper Zach Steffen. Shortly after that, Badji found Shkelzen Gash in the 6-yard box and Gashi’s shot was saved. Badji forced Steffen to make another save five minutes later.

The Rapids were unlucky on the Columbus goal, which came in the 61st minute. Columbus striker Federico Higuaín took a chance with a shot from long range that deflected off Rapids midfielder Micheal Azira. Macmath appeared to have the shot covered if not for the deflection. Ariza saved a goal 13 minutes later off a dangerous Columbus free kick just outside of the penalty area when, standing on the goal line, he headed Justin Miram’s shot over the bar.

Colorado finished with seven shots on goal — encouraging for a team that has had entire games this season with only one — and Macmath had three saves. Winners of three home games in a row, the Rapids are off this week.

John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer