Substitute Abu Danladi scored in the 89th minute as Minnesota United dealt the Montreal Impact’s playoff hopes a body blow with a 3-2 victory before a sellout crowd of 20,801 at Saputo
Stadium on Saturday night.
Blerim Dzemaili put Montreal ahead 2-1 in the 55th minute but Christain Ramirez responded in the 68th and Danladi got the game-winner as he stepped around Laurent Ciman and beat Evan Bush with a blast from the right side.
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Patrice Bernier had the opening goal for Montreal (10-12-6), which lost a fourth game in a row – three of them at home. The Impact’s schedule doesn’t get easier as they play at first-place
Toronto on Wednesday night and at Atlanta next Saturday.
Christan Ramirez also scored for Minnesota (8-15-5), which was coming off a 3-0 loss Wednesday night in Vancouver.
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The Impact came out strong and got a goal nine minutes in when Anthony Jackson-Hamel slipped the ball into the 18-yard box to Dazemaili, who side-footed it to Bernier at the far post to score
from close range.
It was the Impact captain’s first regular-season goal since 2013, although he had two during the 2015 playoffs.
Ignacio Piatti wasted a chance to put the home side up by two four minutes later. He was stopped from the penalty spot by Bobby Shuttleworth after video review ruled that Jerome Thiessen had
blocked a Daniel Lovitz pass with his arm.