Brad Davis scored the go-ahead goal in the 47th minute and the Houston Dynamo held off the Colorado Rapids 3-2 on Saturday night.
It was the Dynamo’s second win in a row and their first league victory against Colorado in 10 tries going back to a 1-0 victory at Robertson Stadium on April 19, 2009.
“It was a much-needed win,” said Dynamo striker Will Bruin. “At this point it’s pretty much like tournament play. Win and advance. We can’t drop any points. Doesn’t matter how you win, as long as we get three points.”
Houston (11-12-8) never trailed but twice conceded an equalizing goal to the Rapids’ Vicente Sanchez in the first half.
Leonel Miranda opened the scoring for Houston in the third minute and Giles Barnes made it a 2-1 lead in the 24th.
“We fought back and got in the game a couple of times,” said Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni. “But on the night overall, they were beating us for a lot of first balls, second balls and we just made too many individual mistakes on the back line.”
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Sanchez scored for Colorado (8-12-10) in the eighth and 44th minutes.
“He was obviously a bright spot tonight. His contribution on the scoresheet is what kept us in the game,” Mastroeni said. “His effort was good. Defensively, I think it was one of his best performances to date.”
Houston’s Tyler Deric preserved the win and prevented a hat trick for the Rapids forward with a diving block of Sanchez’s free kick in the 78th minute and a kick-save of Sanchez’s point-blank try in the 88th.
“Coming into a place like here in Houston, we know both of us are desperate teams. We want points,” said Rapids’ Jared Watts, who started the game at defensive midfield and shifted to center back in the second half. “Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get out of the hole there in the end.”
The Dynamo stayed three points behind Portland for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
The Rapids remain in 10th place in the Western Conference, but fall to 10 points out of the final playoff spot after Portland’s win in Columbus.
“We’ve got a couple of days to recover here, prepare for Salt Lake and make sure we put on a good performance,” Mastroeni said. “We’ve got the Rocky Mountain Cup at stake here (Oct. 4), something to fight for. Make sure we come out with the right attitude.”
