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Columbus, Ohio • Even though Real Salt Lake had allowed only one away goal in four previous matches, it wasn't comfortable — even with an early lead on the Columbus Crew.

Despite a goal on a corner kick by Jamison Olave in the seventh minute, the Crew rallied for a 2-1 victory Wednesday in Crew Stadium on a penalty kick by Andres Mendoza in the 76th minute and a deflected score by Josh Gardner six minutes later.

"Apart from the first 15 minutes, we didn't manage the game very well," RSL coach Jason Kreis said. "Tactically, we didn't stay compact enough. We lost the ball in really, really bad positions. When you do that, it causes you to defend for long stretches.

"I thought Columbus was really unfortunate not to score in the first half, and because of that, it really affected the energy we were able to play the game with in the second half."

The Crew (4-3-6) ended an 0-2-3 stretch, while Real Salt Lake dropped to 6-3-2.

Gardner's first MLS goal since 2006 was a shot from the top of the penalty area that hit the thigh of RSL defender Chris Schuler on the way past goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Gardner spent the past four seasons in the minors after playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"It was fortunate we got the deflection on the goal, but if he doesn't shoot it, we don't score," said Crew captain Chad Marshall.

The Crew got the equalizer from Mendoza after Justin Meram was tripped by Olave.

Mendoza immediately called for the ball and denied Jeff Cunningham a chance to tie the league career mark of 133 goals by Jaime Moreno.

Cunningham went to the spot, and Marshall joined the two forwards before Cunningham waved for Mendoza to take the penalty.

"It's good for [Mendoza]," said Cunningham, who had 19 goals for RSL from 2006-07. "We need him to be at his best. That goal was probably more important for the club than me, at this point."

For the fourth time in six games, the Crew conceded before the 10th minute, when Olave scored off a corner from Nelson Gonzalez.

Gonzalez's service from the right sailed to the far post, where Olave fired it into the upper-left corner.

That usually would be enough for RSL.

"You're up 1-0 on the road. You don't need to score [more]," captain Kyle Beckerman said. "The game at 1-0, you've got to be able to keep possession, and for some reason, we weren't able to do it. We started good with getting the goal. There were times we had good possession fairly easy, but we gave it away easy as well."