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Rapids 1, Real Salt Lake 1

Jun 7, 2009 - 5:10 PM By JASEN ASAY STATS MLS Correspondent

SANDY, Utah (STATS) - Omar Cummings and the Colorado Rapids accomplished their mission on Saturday night.

After Cummings' goal in the 88th minute helped Colorado leave the field following a 1-1 tie with Real Salt Lake, the forward said the Rapids showed a lot of character by getting another point on the road.

"We have depth and we have confidence with whoever is out on the field," Cummings said. "It's not like if we're missing a couple of guys we have an excuse to say we lost this game because we didn't have certain players."

The Rapids (4-2-5) were missing two starters as midfielder Pablo Mastroeni and forward Conor Casey were with the United States team that beat Honduras 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier Chicago earlier in the night.

Casey had scored four goals in his last three games, and is tied with Kansas City's Guillermo Barros Schellotto for the league scoring lead with eight.

Still, Colorado is 2-0-4 in its last six games.

"We're going to have to continue that if we're going to mount a serious charge for the playoffs," said Colorado head coach Gary Smith, whose team has played seven road games. "Now we've left ourselves in a decent position to maybe get some points at home."

RSL also was without a pair of starters. Midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales served one-game suspensions due to yellow-card accumulation.

Yura Movsisyan scored in the 79th minute for RSL (3-6-2). He took a pass from Fabian Espindola in the box and dribbled around a defender before beating goalkeeper Matt Pickens.

"They did well defensively to keep it tight in there but we were able to break them down and get one," said RSL midfielder Clint Mathis. "To give up that goal at the end was disappointing, but that's the game of soccer."

RSL couldn't capitalize on several good scoring chances early and dropped to 0-4-3 in its last seven.

Forward Robbie Findley had two good opportunities in the first half, but headers in the 21st and 30th minutes sailed wide. The bad luck continued for RSL when Espindola's header in the 63rd minute off a corner kick bounced over the crossbar.

RSL outshot the Rapids 18-9, including a 4-3 in shots on goal.

"There is a lot of positive stuff to take out of that game and if we fix that one small play we're all extremely happy right now," said RSL head coach Jason Kreis.

RSL went a man down in the 82nd minute when Robbie Russell picked up his second yellow card of the game and was ejected.

"It was a great point for us in what wasn't a pretty display by us," Smith said. "I think a lot of that was a few of the younger guys dealing with the occasion and stepping up and filling the void left by Pablo and Conor."

The teams play annually for the Rocky Mountain Cup, a trophy awarded to the winner of the season series. Having already defeated RSL earlier in the season at home, the Rapids were hoping to take clinch the cup on Saturday. They'll meet for the final time on Oct. 24.

"We want that cup," Cummings said. "They've had it for the past two years and we wanted it tonight but unfortunately we'll have to wait. We'll do that, patiently."

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Story from: STATS LLC, http://www.stats.com.