Houston Dynamo Hold Off Montreal Impact For Win, Third Place

As Houston got ready for a Friday night battle they needed to come out ahead of Montreal to claim three points and third place. Montreal has historically proved to be a tricky foe for the Dynamo - but this time would turn out differently.

Both teams came out firing as each had a corner and a shot on goal in the first few minutes but the Dynamo struck first as Ricardo Clark scored a beauty of a goal in the sixth minute, sending the ball spinning into the left side of the net. The goal was set up by a beautiful passing sequence from Warren Creavalle and Boniek Garcia, and shows how the phrase "assisted on the goal" sometimes rarely tells the whole story.

As the team continued to take shot after shot the Impact looked flat and lifeless. Houston was easily winning the midfield battle, but couldn't manage to put a second goal into the net. Just wide or just high seemed to be the adjectives that accompanied every shot for the Dynamo along with the pesky phrase "Perkins saved it."

The first fifteen minutes of the second half was much of the same. Then an injured Marco Di Vaio was subbed off for the rookie Andrew Wenger and Felipe Martins came off for Sanna Nyassi, and the team seemed to come alive. The last twenty five minutes were much more lively and interesting as the Impact gained possession and began to send the ball towards the net and Tally Hall's waiting arms. Despite the frayed nerves of fans (I don't think my heart rate has returned to normal yet) the Dynamo held on to claim a 1-0 victory over the Impact.  

Boswell is excited to be in third, and you should be too. Gif courtesy of heytherebelinda

While they claimed three points - and third place - they are only one point ahead of the Impact. Unbeaten in four games, Houston will look to claim number five next Wednesday against Sporting (Sporking) Kansas City.