Earlier this week, Orlando City star Daryl Dike made a confident promise: “If I’m up top, the goals will come.”
The striker delivered on Saturday night, netting a goal and assisting the game-winner to lift the Lions to a 3-2 win over Columbus at Exploria Stadium.
The Lions (10-4-8, 38) squashed a Columbus attempt at a comeback, extending their seven-game unbeaten streak to maintain second place in the Eastern Conference.
Dike’s presence dominated the match, bullying through the Columbus backline to create a wealth of goal-scoring opportunities.
“I always try to be a problem for the other team,” Dike said. “Anytime I can disrupt the center backs, it frees up a man. … That’s something I pride myself in doing — being able to make those runs.”
The win also cemented coach Oscar Pareja into the club’s record books as the winningest manager in Lions history, surpassing Jason Kreis with 23 career wins.
The Lions took an early lead over Columbus after weeks of attempting to kick-start their offense,
Dike opened scoring in the 26th minute when Nani cleared a ball up the field into open space. The striker muscled down one defender, then danced between two more before clobbering his shot into the net.
The goal was Dike’s first since June after spending two months off the pitch for the Lions because of international duty and two injuries.
Silvester van der Water joined Dike on the scoresheet two minutes later, curling a ball from long range to skip past keeper Eloy Room into the goal.
The first-half scoreline could have been doubled after a series of squandered opportunities. Still, those two goals felt sufficient enough for the Lions to win — until, quite suddenly, they weren’t.
Trouble began for the Lions in the 52nd minute when an awry pass in the box bounced off the head of Antonio Carlos and into the net for a rare own goal. Two minutes later, Columbus striker Miguel Berry slipped into a gap in the box to net the equalizer.
“It was a tough moment,” Pareja said. “That second goal of theirs, it was a very difficult moment. … And that’s when the character, the togetherness and the glue that this team has came out again and took us over that hurdle.”
In a matter of minutes, the game turned on its head but Orlando City thwarted the final step of the comeback.
After the equalizer, Dike paced at midfield, waving his arms at the crowd to encourage them to raise the volume in the stadium.
A swell of cheers from the stands was met by a surge of defensive energy from Orlando City, which didn’t buckle under the Crew’s momentum. Columbus did not place another shot on target after the equalizer.
Dike and midfielder Júnior Urso combined in the 69th minute to clinch the victory. The game-winner began in a moment of chaos — Urso lost the ball at the top of the box, then stole it back to pass to defender Ruan, who in turn fed Dike.
Rather than turning to try his own shot, Dike chipped the ball back to Urso for him to attack. Room didn’t even dive for the ball, his line of vision completely obscured by Dike’s body.
The goal helped the Lions dodge disaster, maintaining a continued streak of success as the team chases New England (16-4-4, 52) for the top spot in the conference and league table.
Saturday marked the first match for keeper Adam Grinwis since tearing his ACL in August 2020 during a match for Sacramento Republic in the USL Championship.
With starter Pedro Gallese on international duty and backup Mason Stajduhar injured, the keeper suited up for the Lions for the first time since 2019. Grinwis made one save in the match to preserve the win.
“The fans throughout this my entire career really have just made me feel at home here,” Grinwis said. “They’ve supported our team when we weren’t in a good place when I played here before. To be back here now when the club is in a much better place, to have their support continually through the good times and the bad, it just means the absolute world.”
After scoring, Urso earned a one-game suspension after accumulating his fifth yellow card of the season. He will serve that suspension Friday when the Lions travel to Georgia to face long-time rival Atlanta United.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Julia Poe at jpoe@orlandosentinel.com.