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Davis lifts Dynamo over Real Salt Lake

Sep 20, 2009 - 4:42 AM By JEREMY RAKES STATS MLS Correspondent

HOUSTON (STATS) - It took five minutes for Houston to score as many goals Saturday night as the Dynamo did in their last four games.

But, it took Brad Davis' tally in the 81st minute to lift Houston a 3-2 win over 10-man Real Salt Lake.

The win helped the Dynamo (12-8-7) take the MLS lead over Columbus by a point and broke a four-game league winless streak.

"Good hard fought win. Difficult game. Spectacular goal to win it for us," said Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear. "I'm happy that we won to extend our lead in the West and to get back to winning.

"We started out great and then we took our foot off the pedal. They crept back into the game and they are just chunking guys forward because they have to and they need points, so its important for us to remain discipline and at times we were not."

RSL (9-10-7), meanwhile, had its three-game unbeaten streak snapped and missed a chance to climb into a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference.

"We came into a tough place to play against one of the best teams in the league, and you always want to get a point, but I think it shows a lot of character what we did tonight, and it gives us some confidence heading into our next couple games," said RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando. "Obviously, we wanted at least a point and three points would have been great, but we have four games left. That leaves 12 points for us to get."

Off a free kick by Davis, Brian Ching got his left foot on the ball in the middle box and scored 68 seconds into the game to give Houston a 1-0 lead.

Geoff Cameron followed with a goal off a corner kick by Davis in the fifth minute that extended Dynamo's lead to 2-0.

"Our team's been struggling of late, so to get a win feels good," Davis said. "Credit to those guys for making good runs, my job is to just put the ball in there and give them a chance."

Houston was outscored 4-2 during its winless streak.

Kyle Beckerman cut Dynamo's lead to 2-1 in the 27th minute with a goal from the upper middle box, and Yura Movsisyan made it 2-2 in the 60th minute after controlling the ball in the upper right box and firing a shot into the left side of the net.

"I was extremely proud of my guys to show that kind of fight in those kinds of circumstances tonight," said RSL head coach Jason Kreis. "I think there's not a whole lot to feel good about, I think we have to feel very good about that game and match next week and the next three matches after that."

Jamison Olave was sent off in the 32nd minute for a hard tackle to put RSL down a man, but Ching was also shown a red in the 82nd minute for a hip check to even the sides.

The game also featured five yellow cards and the ejection of Dynamo assistant coach John Spencer.