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Holden's goal helps Dynamo edge Real Salt Lake

Oct 16, 2007 - 5:15 AM SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) - Scoring chances were few and far between for the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake on Monday night, so Stuart Holden created one of his own.

The second-year forward's fifth goal of the season in the 66th minute broke a scoreless tie as Houston escaped Real Salt Lake with a 1-0 victory.

With wide-open space on the far right side of the field, Holden bent a long, drifting shot toward the goal that Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando just missed. Rimando leapt and got his fingertips on the ball, but not enough to stop it from hitting the back of the net.

"I don't think he meant to shoot it, to be honest," Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear said.

"The flight of the ball, the movement of the ball was difficult. I think it was Stuart trying to cross it. (He) just hit it a little bit awkward, and gave us an awkward goal. But it's an important awkward goal, that's for sure."

Just a minute earlier, Rimando had robbed Holden of a goal on a header from a few feet out. His Houston counterpart said it was "the best save I've seen all season" but Holden got his revenge moments later.

"I kinda had a close effort on the one before that, but Rimando made a really good save," Holden said. "The second one, I was just trying to hit it across the goal hard. It got away from me a little bit, but it ended up in the goal. I'm not complaining."

Salt Lake (5-15-9) had a perfect chance to tie the game seven minutes later, as team captain Kyle Beckerman was awarded a direct kick after getting tripped up by Houston defender Eddie Robinson. But his attempt was blocked by Wade Barrett, who cleared it to end the scoring threat.

The victory vaults Houston (15-8-6) over idle New England into third place in the MLS playoff standings.

The Dynamo now has 51 points on the season and is just a single point behind second-place Chivas USA (15-7-7) in the overall standings and the top spot in the Western Conference. The two teams square off in the season finale on Saturday.

"The guys know we have something to play for in terms of getting the top spot in the West. So it's a great win for us," Kinnear said. "If we can get that advantage of homefield throughout the playoffs, the guys feel good about that."

Tempers flared late in the game as Real Salt Lake forward Yura Movsisyan, whose slow dribbler from point-blank range in the 51st minute hit the right post to keep his team scoreless, was involved in a tussle near the Houston goal and was given a red card - an automatic ejection.