Lassi Lappalainen scored in stoppage time in the second half to allow CF Montreal to score a 1-1 victory against the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday evening at Saputo Stadium.
Under the sustained encouragement of his supporters, the Bleu-Blanc-Noir managed to come from behind when Lappalainen attempted it twice and then ended up beating goalkeeper Steve Clark.
After allowing a goal to the 10e minute of play, following some bad luck from Fernando Álvarez, the Montrealers had several opportunities to tie the game, but as has been the case regularly this season, their efforts in the penalty area did not carry their fruits until Lappalainen delivers his teammates.
CF Montreal (11-16-5) has not won in front of its fans in its last four outings (0-1-3) and it has not won in its last seven games (0-4-3 ), but this result will still do him a lot of good.
The temporary result involving the Chicago Fire moved the Montrealers back to eighth in the Eastern Conference and into the playoff picture, with only two games remaining.
Winner of the United States Cup for the second time in its history last Wednesday, Dynamo (12-11-9) thought they had done enough to sign a first victory in eight attempts at the Saputo stadium.
When Artur opened the scoring, the Texans ended a drought of 594 minutes without a goal against the Montreal club, but they left the field with only one point.
Hernán Losada’s men were without the services of defender Gabriele Corbo, suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, but found in the starting 11 defender Joel Waterman, who had missed the last match due to suspension for receiving a red card.
CF Montreal will return to action on Saturday evening when they host the Portland Timbers. This will be the last match at Saputo Stadium of the season.
We stopped believing it would happen
The Montreal team started the match strongly, with goalkeeper Steve Clark having to signal to block a left-footed shot from Romell Quioto in the first minute of play.
The Bleu-Blanc-Noir continued their offensive breakthroughs a few minutes later, but with the same result. Quioto redirected a cross from Zachary Brault-Guillard with his head, but Clark intervened.
Dynamo got their first scoring opportunity in the 10the minute, and he took advantage of it. Defender Fernando Álvarez lost his footing on the left side and lost the ball to Ibrahim Aliyu. The latter handed the ball to Sebastian Kowalczyk at the penalty spot, who slipped it to Artur, who hit the target with a very precise shot.
CF Montreal, however, was not shaken by this goal, and once again stormed the enemy zone. Mathieu Choinière saw his header narrowly miss the target, in the 15the minute, and Nathan Saliba’s shot from the edge of the area, in the 24e minute, was blocked by an opponent.
Both teams then calmed down until the end of the first half.
From the first moments of the second half, Aliyu accepted a long ball to appear alone in front of goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, but Waterman’s retreat prevented a shot. The Montrealers also knocked on the door, but Sunusi Ibrahim was not able to beat Clark.
The more the minutes passed, the more the tension began to rise in the stadium. CF Montreal tried its luck several times, but it was during its last shot of the match that it finally allowed its supporters to celebrate a goal.