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Glinton's header gives Galaxy first road win

Sep 28, 2007 - 4:08 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- With a chance to take a big step toward the playoffs, the Kansas City Wizards instead dropped a chance to improve their situation.

Gavin Glinton, who came on as a substitute in the 71st minute, received a crossing pass and hammered in a header from 10 yards out to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy past the Wizards, 1-0, on Thursday.

Although the Wizards outshot the Galaxy, 10-3, they remained at 36 points on the season and stayed in fourth place in the Eastern Division standings behind D.C. United (26-15-6) and seventh overall.

"It's very frustrating," Wizards coach Curt Onolfo said. "We had an enormous amount of chances in the first half. The first 20 minutes were excellent. We missed some very easy chances early. Unfortunately, in this game, if you miss those chances, they'll come back to haunt you."

"It ranks right up there as one of the most disappointing games I've played," Kansas City captain Jimmy Conrad said. "They got one shot on goal and they scored. I thought we still played good, but we should have been up a couple of goals. It's very disappointing."

Glinton's third goal of the season helped the Galaxy to their first road victory of the campaign, as they were 0-7-4 in their previous 11 matches. Los Angeles has won consecutive games for the first time this season, improving to 6-13-6 for 24 points and moving into fifth place in the Western Division.

"It's a much-needed win for us," Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said. "I'm proud of our guys in the way we handled the situation. We moved the ball well at the end. Getting three points is huge for us."

Kansas City had several opportunities early in the first half - most of which were by Eddie Johnson - but was denied by Los Angeles goalkeeper Joe Cannon, who made two saves on route to his fifth shutout of the season.

"Give the guys credit, especially the young guys on the back line," Cannon said. "They were really outstanding. It's been a long year and they're still improving. They're getting better every game. We alleviated Kansas City's energy in the first half; we weathered their storm. We had good saves and good defensive play. But you can chalk some of it up to missed opportunities."

"We worked hard and still came up a goal short," Johnson said. "We worked too hard to be in that situation. If we had finished our chances early, we wouldn't have been in that position. It's frustrating. I'm embarrassed for our team and for our fans. We needed results. This is unacceptable. I don't know how to speak right now. It hurts so much."

The Wizards missed their best opportunity in the 55th minute, when Johnson's chip pass found Eloy Colombano alone behind the Galaxy's defense. After dribbling past Cannon, Colombano's right-footer sailed wide of the net.

"It's unfortunate for Eloy," Onolfo said. "He did the hard work but had a little trouble slipping it in. The crowd was great, and I hope they enjoyed the game and thought it was entertaining. At times, the crowd was electrifying. I'm just disappointed we couldn't seal the deal."

The anticipated arrival of international star David Beckham brought a crowd of 32,867 - Kansas City's largest ever for a home game - despite Beckham being sidelined with a sprained right knee.