Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - With a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Wizards at Crew Stadium on Saturday night, the Columbus Crew won their fourth straight Major League Soccer fixture to improve to a league best 5-1-0.

"It's great to be 5-1," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "I think we made the second (half) a little more dangerous than we needed to, though I felt like we played fairly well."

First half goals by Adam Moffat and Robbie Rogers were enough to counter a Claudio Lopez second-half goal as the Crew hung on to keep a two point lead on second-place Chicago in the Eastern Conference table after week six.

"I thought that we deserved to be up 2-0," Schmid said. "We did a good job, as we have in the last couple of weeks, of blocking shots and getting in front of things."

The Crew jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the game when Argentine veteran Guillermo Barros Schelotto took a free kick in the fourth minute. His kick swung into the left side of the Wizards' penalty area to Chad Marshall, who headed back across the box to Adam Moffat, who headed home for his second goal of the season.

"It was a great ball back across, and when Chad's going for the ball you just know hes going to win it, so I just anticipated and got to the back post and I was in the right place at the right time," Moffat said.

Half an hour later the Crew doubled their lead when Wizards veteran goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and defender Chance Myers looked confused in their end. After Columbus forward Alejandro Moreno played a ball to space behind Myers in the box, the '08 top overall draft pick let up, expecting Hartman to come out and grab it. Instead, Rogers sped between them and played the ball past Hartman and over the goaline for his third goal of the season.

"I have some speed, so I try to get on those as much as possible and when the defenders going against his own goal, and the goalie is coming out, there's usually some kind of miscommunication, and so I just tried to get a little foot on it, I got lucky, so I got the goal," Rogers said.

With the frustration of giving up two goals mounting, another Kansas City player made a rookie mistake just two minutes later. The visitors other first round draft pick, Roger Espinoza, received a red card after elbowing Crew captain Frankie Hejduk in the face, forcing the Wizards to play a man down the rest of the way.

Kansas City came out refocused in the second half, with Lopez getting his team's first shot on goal just after the break. He took a pass behind the defense but Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer came out to challenge and knocked the ball away for one of his four saves on the day.

"When you lose a player, you have to somehow make sure that you have some good defensive shape," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said. "Our plan was to drop back a little bit and get something out of counters."

Hesmer made another strong save off a corner kick, this time by Myers to keep the two goal advantage just after the hour mark.

The Wizards finally pulled a goal back in the 79th minute after second half substitute Scott Sealy was pulled down in the penalty area. Lopez took the chance and fired right down the middle and in for his second goal of the season.

"We were already a man down, so my job, basically, was to stay as high as possible and look for some counter attacks because we knew that they were going to come and attack us, being a man down," Sealy said. "In the second half, we took it to them, we created the most chances and got a penalty and got back into the game, but weren't able to get a second one, so that's how the game goes sometimes."

The Crew hung on, however, handing Kansas City (3-3-1) its second straight loss.

The Wizards will have some time to correct their problems with their next league fixture being on May 17 at New York.

"You never want to have any time off, you always want to get right back into it," Onalfo said. "We want to continually get better. We are right in the middle of a very long away stretch. It will only make our team better. They are going to learn through this experience."

The Crew will be back in action at San Jose next Saturday.

"Well, we keep doing the things that we're doing. We don't get away from our script," Moreno said. "We're a team that has to be organized. We're a team that has to battle and take advantage of the opportunities that we create and be solid defensively. As long as we do that, we're going to give ourselves a chance in every game."

GAME NOTES: Espinoza's ejection came in front of his friends and family in Columbus after being drafted from Ohio State. ... The Crew brought in 20-year- old Nigerian Emmanuel Ekpo in the 54th minute for his first ever MLS action. ... The win served as an early birthday gift for Schelotto, who turns 35 on Sunday.

- By Pat Martin, MLS Editor