Lucas Zelarayan leads Columbus Crew past Orlando City

Orlando City needed a win to start ensuring a second consecutive playoff appearance, but the host Columbus Crew had Lucas Zelarayan to keep their postseason aspirations alive on Wednesday.

The Argentine-born attacking midfielder produced a goal and two assists as Columbus claimed a 3-2 victory over Orlando at Lower.com Field, extending the Lions’ winless streak to three games heading into the final two matches of the season.

“It’s a really painful result for sure,” Orlando coach Oscar Pareja said. “We’re carrying in the last few games some heaviness on those results [and] I think it just cost us to check that off during the first half. I think the boys were fighting, trying to dominate the game from the beginning and then after those two goals that we conceded, the energy went lower, Columbus started getting more enthusiastic with the game and then half of the first half we didn’t react well.”

Columbus (11-13-8, 41 points) opened the scoring in the 20th minute when a badly cleared ball off a corner kick found Zelarayan, who crossed the ball into the area for Miguel Berry to head the ball past Pedro Gallese to give the home side the lead.

It was the 15th time this season Orlando conceded a goal first.

The Crew doubled the lead in the 31st minute when a corner kick played by Zelarayan found an open Derrick Etienne Jr., who tucked the ball into the net to make it 2-0.

In the first half, each team had four shots, but Orlando was left blank with shots on target.

Following the team’s lackluster performance in the first half, Pareja made two changes, taking out captain Nani and Sebastian Mendez and deploying Benji Michel and Tesho Akindele to start the second half.

In the 49th minute, Orlando was awarded a penalty kick after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) ruled a handball infraction on Columbus defender Jonathan Mensah.

Daryl Dike stepped up to take the penalty but his attempt was blocked by Eloy Room. Moments later, the VAR forced a retake, ruling Room encroached on Dike’s penalty.

The second-year Orlando forward converted the retaken penalty past Room, which cut Columbus’ lead to 2-1 in the 52nd minute.

It was Dike’s eighth goal in 16 appearances for Orlando this year.

But Columbus doubled its lead again in the 61st minute when Zelarayan received a ball from Steven Moreira before curling a strike from a long distance past Gallese to give the Crew the 3-1 lead.

In the second minute of stoppage time, Orlando managed to cut the Crew’s lead when a ball sent into the area by Akindele found an open Robin Jansson, who struck the volley past Room to reduce the lead to 3-2.

Following the game, Pareja pinned the focus to Sunday, implying the game against Nashville is a must-win for Orlando lock up a playoff spot.

“We look now at home, which for us is a final for us and a game that could put us in a comfortable position,” said Pareja in Spanish. “Today we have to regroup. It’s not easy, especially with the emotional exhaust that New England took from us with the result, so we hope we can refocus and we have to win against Nashville at home and there’s no other option.”

Following last Sunday’s game against New England, Pareja opted to rotate some players, making three changes to Orlando’s lineup on Wednesday with Kyle Smith, Andres Perea and Jansson returning to their respective starting positions.

It was Smith’s first time being featured in the XI since Sept. 19, which saw Orlando City lose 3-1 at the Philadelphia Union.

The Lions (12-9-11, 47 points) entered Wednesday’s match against the Crew looking to prevent a third consecutive similar result that saw them drop points from a winning position.

Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato saw his third appearance of the season after entering in the 72nd minute for Chris Mueller.

The loss on Wednesday saw Orlando fall from fourth to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings with two games left in the regular season.

Orlando City returns home to Exploria Stadium on Sunday to take on Nashville SC at 7:30 p.m. before wrapping up the season on the road against Montreal on Nov. 7 at 3:30 p.m.