Charlotte FC picked up a hard earned point on the road against the Columbus Crew

Charlotte FC picked up a point in a 1-1 draw in their midweek match on the road against the Columbus Crew.

Columbus struck first with a goal Cucho Hernández in the 31^st minute after Charlotte FC gave the ball away near their own box.

Charlotte struggled to maintain possession throughout most of the match, having just 31 percent of possession. Charlotte struggled keep the ball until Dean Smith made a triple substitution in the 69^th minute, bringing on João Pedro, Nikola Petković and Iuri Tavares for Jere Uronen, Djibril Diani and Kerwin Vargas. Bill Tuiloma was also subbed on a few minutes later in the 73^rd minute after an injury to Andrew Privett.

Charlotte had new life in the attack after the substitutes came on, creating good chances and being able to hold onto possession for longer.

Charlotte equalized in the 84^th minute when Bill Tuiloma sent a long through ball over the top for Patrick Agyemang. The Columbus goalkeeper came out to clear the ball but missed and Agyemang took a quick shot that was blocked by a sliding defender and came right back to him for another shot that went between the goalkeeper’s legs to find the back of the net to tie the score at 1-1.

Charlotte had a big chance to take a 2-1 lead in the 89^th minute when Liel Abada crossed the ball to Tavares unmarked at the far post, but his header missed wide.

Columbus threatened to score several times in extra time, but none of the chances were able to find the back of the net and the final whistle blew after six minutes of stoppage time.

Despite Charlotte struggling with possession for most of the match they were able to generate 12 shots with six of those being on goal. Columbus was able to generate 22 shots, but only seven of them were on goal.

The result was a good one for Charlotte, getting a point of a match on the road against one of Major League Soccer’s best teams. Charlotte still sits in sixth place in the MLS Eastern Conference.

Charlotte will remain on the road for their next match, traveling to Texas to take on Austin FC on Saturday, July 20.