RSL beats Houston 3-2 at home for 3-way tie atop Western Conference

SANDY — Real Salt Lake added another goalscorer to its dynamite attack in a 3-2 win over the Houston Dynamo Wednesday at America First Field.

Braian Ojeda benefited from a slip by Chicho Arango that put the ball right at his feet at the top of the box with the match tied 2-2 in the 67th minute.

The steady midfielder weighed his options and then elected for the open right corner of the goal to get the game-winner and his first score in an RSL uniform after 56 games in Utah.

RSL is now tied for first place in the Western Conference with LAFC and the LA Galaxy, all with 40 points.

"For midfielders that don't have a lot of goals, they do a lot of the work behind the scenes that is seldomly praised on TV — they're the engine room," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said of Ojeda. "They're their guys that make it tick, and when they get a reward like Ojeda did tonight ... it's fantastic."

A back-and-forth affair featured an early goal from Houston in the eighth minute, followed by an RSL equalizer by Andres Gomez in the 22nd minute, and a goal for either team to bookend the halftime break.

Diego Luna gave RSL the lead on a distance strike in the 42nd minute before the Houston goal to tie it at 2-2 in the 55th minute was ruled an own goal by Andrew Brody.

The Dynamo entered the match on a six-game unbeaten streak and exposed a leaky RSL defense that had to fill gaps left by an injury to Justen Glad and a green card processing absence for Brayan Vera.

Outside-backs Bode Hidalgo and Bryan Oviedo have turned into temporary center-backs for a backline that has given up six goals over its last three matches.

"People were missing, but I don't think that has anything to do with our performances and goals," Luna said. "Everyone's capable of doing what they need to do and I think we were just short on some of these things. We just need to continue to push through, but I think we could have scored four or five, six goals in that game."

RSL leads the West in goals scored with 43 and the attack didn't lose a step thanks to Arango not missing any more time after leaving the last match with a head injury.

The Claret and Cobalt stay in Utah for a rare home match against Eastern Conference power Atlanta United on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MDT at AFF.

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