MONTREAL—Despite an impressive start, the Montreal Impact had to settle for a fourth straight draw Saturday while remaining winless in five consecutive games.
Didier Drogba scored only three minutes in, and Montreal's offense delivered a furious attack through the first 10 minutes, but the Impact could not score another against the Philadelphia Union in a 1-1 draw before 20,801 fans – a third straight capacity crowd at Saputo Stadium.
Montreal remains in first place in the Eastern Conference with 16 points, one ahead of Philadelphia.
"It's kind of a catch-22," said Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush. "You look at the table and you're happy about that, I suppose, but you want to have more than 16 points through 11 games, especially the last five games.
"It's a strange situation because we haven't won in five, but it's four draws in a row. It would be nice to finish off a game, especially at home, but you still have to look at the positve. We're colecting points at home."
Early on, it appeared Montreal was ready to storm out to a multi-goal lead. After Drogba scored his fourth goal of the season (third in three games), the Impact offense kept pushing, with reigning MLS Player of the WeekIgnacio Piatti driving a shot off the left post among several scoring opportunities in the first 10 minutes.
Even after conceding the tying goal to C.J. Sapong in the 24th minute, Montreal dominated the rest of the opening half, yet was unable to regain the lead.
"We started the game very well," said Impact captain Patrice Bernier. "We created some chances and played with a lot of spirit and passion. We were able to unbalance them. We didn't go up 2-0 or 3-0, we conceded a goal.
"We left some space and we paid for it. It seems that's happening a bit too often. We have to rectify it because if we want to win a game it's going to have to be a 90-minute, complete performance."
Impact coach Mauro Biello said his midfielders were outplayed in a game where his offense shone.
"I think we could have done a better job," Biello said. "I thought we started off good but then if I look at the duels, we lost a lot of duels. I thought that we were giving a little too much space, weren't balanced enough, and this gave them an opportunity to play and grow in confidence, and in the middle part we have to be good. When teams come in here we have to take command of the game."
