With the way their defense has played since the start of June, the pieces seemed to be in place for Real Salt Lake to claim another easy home victory against the San Jose Earthquakes.
But while RSL increased its shutout streak to a whopping 276 minutes -- two shy of the club record -- it came away from Rice-Eccles Stadium with little to show for it, ending a second consecutive home match in a scoreless draw on Wednesday night.
Real had 24 shots, but only four ended up on frame. The struggles on the final third took a lot of luster off another fine defensive performance.
"We've gone three games with shutouts -- which is great -- but then you look back and we've only scored one goal in that time and we have only one win in that time," defender Chris Wingert said.
RSL blew a golden opportunity to break away after enjoying a man advantage throughout the second half. The Earthquakes were forced to make do with 10 men after Jason Hernandez was issued his second yellow card of the match in the 44th minute.
But instead of moving in for the kill, RSL let San Jose slip out of its grasp and left coach Jason Kreis wishing his team possessed a more aggressive mentality.
"When you're playing against a team that's a man down, you have to know they're going to sit in a bunker," Kreis said. "In order to move those players around, you got to dribble at them. You got to be aggressive and cause defenders to make decisions on who to play."
In addition to scoreless draws, losing go-ahead goals to offside calls is becoming another unsettling trend for RSL at home this season.
It first happened a month ago against the Los Angeles Galaxy when Kenny Deuchar's header, which would have broken a 2-2 tie, was disallowed when he was ruled offside.
A similar scenario undid Real against the Earthquakes on Wednesday. RSL appeared to have the go-ahead goal -- and its first goal -- when Kyle Beckerman slotted the ball inside the near post in the 72nd minute.
Javier Morales swung the ball off a corner kick across the area to Findley at the far post. Findley headed the ball back to Beckerman, who easily tapped it in.
After initially allowing the goal, the referee consulted with his assistant on the touchline and ruled Beckerman was in an offside position when he touched the ball.
The call left behind a sour taste for RSL, which ended the night feeling like it should have had three points instead of one.
"It seemed like the referee was fine with it being a goal -- the sideline and the center -- and then all of a sudden it was changed." Beckerman said. "We all thought it was a goal. But we kept at it. To me, we reacted pretty well afterward."
The match might have not hinged on such a controversial ruling had RSL enjoyed the type of strong start it enjoyed in previous home games against San Jose this season. Real produced only two shots on goal in the first 45 minutes and seemed to struggle finding an offensive flow in the final third.
For its part San Jose did not do anything on offense either, but the Earthquakes were able to stall out things to keep RSL from building up steam.
"We really could have come out better in the first half," defender Nat Borchers said. "They came out and they pressed us and moved around really well. They had better possession than we should allow them at home."
Giving away two points to a struggling expansion club only intensifies the necessity of getting three points against New England on Saturday. For RSL to do that, it will have to something that isn't coming easy these days -- put the ball in the back of the net.
But RSL feels confident that offensive output will eventually rise to match what the defense is accomplishing.
"I still feel like we're creating a bunch of chances," Beckerman said. "If we can keep getting the shutouts, the goals will come."
John Coon is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
