After a 1-0 loss to FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park on Saturday evening, once again Houston Dynamo were left rankled by a result on the road.
It was a fourth consecutive match away from Houston for Dynamo, and a fourth without a victory for the Orange in that stretch, with three losses and a draw. It also means they now trail first-place FC Dallas by nine points in the Western Conference standings.
Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson was sent off in the 31st minute after getting his second yellow within a minute. FCD then bided their time before midfielder Arturo Alvarez, a Houston native, scored in the 86th minute, providing the margin of victory in a 1-0 decision.
Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear was clearly unhappy with Robinson's ejection.
"I think what's sad is that we tussled here about four months ago with the same type of circumstances and the same referee and the same play," he said. "Eddie goes up and a guy throws an elbow and hits him. They actually called a foul on Eddie. The second yellow was silly."
Robinson got his first yellow in the 30th minute when he shoved FCD striker Carlos Ruiz after a Ronnie O'Brien drive sailed to the right of the Dynamo net. Then, he was booked in the 31st for a blow to the face of Ruiz and was summarily dispatched from the field.
Dynamo all-star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario was clearly one of the two best players on the field for Houston on the night. He had three of their five shots in the opening 45 minutes and in the second half, nearly leveled the match on two occasions. But his 58th-minute effort hit the post and an attempted bicycle kick in second-half stoppage time went wide right.
Still, Houston knows playing a man down is becoming a disturbing pattern and one they must correct and soon at that.
"We're getting used to it," De Rosario said. "We're starting to learn how to play with 10 guys now. We're actually making it very difficult on ourselves playing with 10 men. We ended up defending for 57 minutes.
"Every week it's something different and we find ourselves in a hole. This week, it was ourselves. It wasn't the refs or anything else, it was ourselves. If we plan on making the playoffs and playing to our potential, we have to be much smarter. In the last four weeks or so, we've been putting ourselves in holes and we need to fix that."
Houston 'keeper Pat Onstad echoed his teammate's sentiments.
"It's hard enough on the road to win as it is and with 10 men, it makes it doubly tough," he said. "I think the disappointing thing about the game is that we did a good job containing them but let it slip away."
Other than De Rosario, Onstad also came up with several big plays to keep his side in contention for the victory. In the 35th minute, he made a scintillating right-handed save on an effort by O'Brien, sending it over the end line to quell the FCD threat.
Then, in first-half stoppage time, the two-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year made a great stop on a free kick by FCD striker Kenny Cooper from just outside the Dynamo penalty area just before the whistle blew to end the first half.
"We know Ronnie (O'Brien) likes to hit them from distance and he smashed a couple today," he said. "He hit a good one with his left foot. The ball was dancing around a bit with the wind. It doesn't matter how many saves you make whether you lose 1-0 or 4-0."
With the loss, Dynamo now sit nine points back of FCD with just six matches left (one fewer than the Hoops) and time running out for them to catch their fellow Texas club.
Houston won't have much of a break before heading to Los Angeles for a Wednesday match against the Galaxy in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup. They will stay out west for the rest of the week since the sides will meet in MLS action on Sunday evening at The Home Depot Center, with the teams now separated by just four points in the standings.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
