The Columbus Crew seem to have found their mojo as the MLS season winds down. For a squad that has had such a remaking this year, the Black & Gold have demonstrated in their last three matches what they are and will be as their talent melds under interim head coach Laurent Courtois.

On Saturday, the third of those wins, they topped Toronto FC 4-2 with an impressive performance to hang on to a sliver of postseason hope. Here are our three takeaways from Saturday’s action:

1.    In a season where scoring was at a premium for the Crew, Saturday’s match proved that it can come from differing sources. Veteran Gonzalo Tapia, acquired in August, got the Black & Gold on the board first. Then came a brace from Malte Amundsen in his third season in Columbus. Finally, Brooks Lennon, another August signee, completed the day’s tallies.

2.   Amundsen’s two goals came on corner kicks. Courtois commented on how the team plans for the set pieces. “The work that (Assistant Coach) Josh Williams and the guys are putting into this and also the staff with the way they scout and the video analysts with (Assistant Video & Data Analyst) Ricardo (Baier) and the amount of work and the commitment that they do… Credit to them. What they do is incredible.” 

3.   In the 70th minute, Sekou Bangoura was shown a red card after he received his second yellow card. The Crew went the final 20 minutes a player down and conceded two goals in that stretch. Courtois took the blame for not subbing Bangoura out after the first yellow. “It’s my fault at the end of the day, but this is something that we highly, highly anticipated, talked [about] and addressed. We need collectively and me first to make sure that we learn from those.”