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Morales, Movsisyan help Real Salt Lake edge San Jose

Sep 28, 2008 - 6:07 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Javier Morales netted the decisive goal in the 59th minute and assisted on another tally as Real Salt Lake posted a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

Nick Rimando stopped three shots for Real Salt Lake (9-10-7), which moved one point ahead of idle Chivas USA (9-10-6) for third place in the Western Conference.

"He's been fantastic," Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis said of Morales. "He's one of the players I hoped would take on the challenge and tonight he did. He created that first goal off an unbelievable pass so for me, hats off to him."

"We're fighting for a playoff spot, and so are they (San Jose)," said Yura Movsisyan, who scored twice. "No game is going to be easy from here on out and we need to keep fighting like we did tonight."

Darren Huckerby scored both goals for San Jose (7-10-8), which lost for the first time in nine matches.

"It was great to get goals tonight, but they don't count for anything," Huckerby said. "We weren't good enough today. At 2-1, we've got to win the game. Then we got sloppy."

"Obviously a disappointing night for us," San Jose coach Frank Yallop said. "I thought the best team won tonight. Real Salt Lake played very well and deserved to win to be honest."

Morales netted the decisive goal after Robbie Russell drew a free kick on the right side of the box. Morales took the free kick and sent a beautiful high shot over the wall of defenders and into the left net past a diving Joe Cannon.

Movsisyan opened the scoring in the third minute. However, Huckerby scored twice to give San Jose a 2-1 lead. He raced up the middle of the pitch with the defenders on his heels and beat Cannon to the right side for his fifth goal of the season in the 23rd minute. Huckerby struck again in the 47th minute.

Real Salt Lake got the equalizer two minutes later when Kyle Beckerman sent a through ball to Movsisyan, who won a foot race and beat Cannon for his fifth goal.

Ten minutes later, Morales came through with the game-winner.

"We knew coming in it would be a battle and we needed come here and fight," Movsisyan said. "We showed a lot of character today and obviously, we put our chances away."

"It's disappointing, but what can we say?" Cannon said. "It was a good run we had, and I'm highly disappointed. I think this game was the worst we've played as a defensive unit all year long, especially at home."