Alex Ring, pictured playing against the Red Bulls: “We didn’t play up to our standard today. We didn’t follow our game plan.” (Noah K. Murray -USA TODAY Sports)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There was little doubt to Alex Ring that New York City FC went off the rails against Columbus Crew SC Saturday night.

City lost the lead by allowing two goals off corner kicks during a two-minute span midway through the second half and never recovered en route to a 2-1 loss at MAPFRE Stadium.

“Columbus is a good team but I would definitely say we didn’t play up to our standard today,” the holding midfielder said. “We didn’t follow our game plan, the game plan that Dome laid out to us. We were making our own decision instead of playing as a team and that was the result in the end.”

The defeat left head coach Domenec Torrent perplexed in the difference the team plays at home, where it is undefeated at 10-0-3 and on the road in which it has a 4-7-3 mark and allows multiple goals.

“Our team plays different when we are [at home] and I don’t know the reason why, I want to find the solution because we don’t play in the same way [at home] and when we play away,” he said. “I am the coach and I take the responsibility to find a solution.”

NYCFC has two home matches to rebound this week. It hosts the New England Revolution Wednesday and D.C. United Saturday.

“We as players have to reflect on ourselves,” Ring said. “We still haven’t lost anything. We are still on playoff course, but ring. If we bring the quality and intensity there’s not a lot of teams that beat us, but we keep on having these off nights and there are too many of them.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.