Crew clash with Dynamo at BBVA

Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The Columbus Crew travel to BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday to meet the Houston Dynamo with both clubs battling for a postseason berth in the Eastern Conference.

The Dynamo has won back-to-back games to revitalize their playoff hopes, moving the club to within five points of the final spot, currently held by the Crew.

Columbus secured a 3-0 win over Chivas USA last time out, the team's third successive home triumph. However, the Crew hit the road on Saturday with the team having notched just one win away from home in the last 11 tries.

Houston has a very small margin for error at this point in the season, but the Dynamo showed some character in coming back for a 3-2 win over Montreal last time out.

Trailing 2-1 in the second half, Giles Barnes scored his second goal of the contest to equalize for his team, while Ricardo Clark struck the winner in the 65th, handing Houston three vital points.

"I think in the past we've kind of put our heads down and crumbled but this team showed a lot of character and resilience to come back and be hungry for it and thankfully we got the win," Clark said. "Coming down to the end here, every game is crunch time so we want to make the most of every game and every opportunity."

Houston has a big opportunity on Saturday to take three points from the Crew and further close the gap.

Columbus has enjoyed success at Crew Stadium this season, and after Saturday's game, the team will return home for two successive fixtures, so even a point against Houston would have to be considered a good result.

Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter was forced to juggle his lineup a bit against Chivas due to the suspensions of midfielders Tony Tchani and Wil Trapp. But Berhalter was happy with the contributions he got from both Kevan George and Daniel Paladini, who are not regulars in the team.

"I thought they played really well," Berhalter said of the duo. "In the first half the spacing wasn't right and the second half they played really well and I'm proud of those guys for not contributing that many minutes and coming in and playing and putting a good performance in a game that was important for the club."