Houston Dynamo came into Sunday night's match against Chivas USA looking for a win to open up a little breathing room in the Western Conference playoff race.
Yet though a scoreless draw gave Dynamo sole possession of second place in the Western Conference, Houston remains only one point ahead of the third-place tie between Chivas and the Colorado Rapids, and only four points away from being completely out of the playoff picture.
Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear was disappointed with his team's showing, especially in finishing plays. Houston also had a man advantage for the final half hour after Tim Regan was sent off.
"Obviously it's disappointing," Kinnear said. "You come in looking for three points. We had a lot of guys going forward tonight and their final touches were missing a little bit. You give Chivas USA some credit for defending well."
Dynamo had four second-half shots on goal to two for Chivas, but were still unable to put the ball in the net. Two of those shots on goal came back-to-back in the 66th minute, when Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan saved a shot by Dynamo midfielder Dwayne De Rosario and then smothered Alejandro Moreno's shot off the rebound.
Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad, whose superb play helped the Dynamo avoid a loss, was also disappointed with his team's performance.
"We came out in the first half a little nervous," said Onstad. "We were a little tentative at home. In the second half, we just couldn't take advantage of it against 10 men. We're a little disappointed we didn't come out with three points."
Dynamo held a one-man advantage throughout most of the second half after Chivas defender Tim Regan received his second yellow card of the night and was ejected in the 59th minute.
Dynamo midfielder Paul Dalglish made his home debut after signing with the team in August. Coach Kinnear was pleased with his newest acquisition's performance.
"He (Dalglish) was pretty dangerous on the right hand side," Kinnear said. "He gave them problems, and ran at them in the first half. I think he started of pretty well with us."
Dalglish, however, was more critical of his performance, saying that he "was a bit disappointed with the first 15 or 20 minutes. I should've scored in the first five minutes. After that I thought I settled down."
Chivas coach Bob Bradley was disappointed with the game's result, but proud of his players for staying in the game after Regan was ejected.
"It took a very good effort by everybody to play down a man for 30 minutes," Bradley said after the game. "I think we stayed organized. ... The key was the mentality of the group, and I think it's getting stronger."
With Chivas and the Rapids now three points ahead of fifth-place Real Salt Lake and six ahead of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Regan feels like the team is performing well and has a good chance of advancing to the playoffs.
"I think we're on a good run right now, and we can keep it going," the defender said. "We get a home game and the Super Clasico (against the Los Angeles Galaxy) coming up next, so it should be a good couple of weeks."
Lucas Ogden-Davis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
