Texas native Alex Dixon came in as a substitute against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night, but there is no substituting the rookie’s impact as he drove home a shot in the waning seconds to power the Houston Dynamo to a 3-2 victory.
Dixon replaced Colin Clark in the 80th minute and put the pedal to the medal to prove to Dynamo Head Coach Dominic Kinnear that he belongs. In the 93rd minute, Dixon earned space for himself at the top of the box and tucked a neat left-footed strike past Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando. The goal sealed a crucial three points for the Dynamo that lifts the team from fifth to third place in the Eastern Conference standings. It’s safe to assume that Kinnear and company welcomed Dixon as “one of us”.
Indeed, Dixon’s goal was the culmination of a resilient team effort. It was a clicking on all four cylinders sort of night for the Houston squad playing in front of 16,247 hometown supporters. Dixon accompanied teammates Bobby Boswell, Brian Ching, and Brad Davis on the ride to the record books. Boswell picked up his fourth goal of the season for a new career high. Ching racked up his fifth tally of an injury-plagued year to snap a four-way tie for the team lead. Davis brought home the bacon with his 12th and 13th assists of the 2011 campaign to position himself as the MLS leader in assists. The 13 assists already mark a single-season high for the Dynamo original, who also surpassed Pat Onstad for most starts in all Dynamo competitions with his 171st notched on this night.
The night of magnificent milestones wasn’t all a peaceful walk along calm waters, however. Twice the Dynamo had to swim upstream to overcome a deficit brought on by a Real Salt Lake opponent desperately clawing for its first road victory since April 9. Fabian Espindola pounced on a snoozer moment for the Dynamo defense and beat goalkeeper Tally Hall uncontested to put the visitors ahead 1-0 in the 28th minute. Real Salt Lake would be one to break the 1-1 gridlock in the second half. This time Espindola set up 17-year-old Luis Gil with a pinpoint cross that Gil headed past Hall after sprinting between two Dynamo defenders.
Fortunately for the Houston faithful, for every action there was an equal and even better reaction. The Dynamo came out of the locker room as a force to be reckoned with in the second half, and the team’s aggressive mentality paid dividends immediately. Co Costly slipped a nifty pass to Davis who shimmied past two defenders and slotted a square ball to an alert Ching. The captain punched the close-range shot past Rimando to draw the score level in the 47th minute. In need of an equalizer once again in the 69th minute, Davis located Boswell on a corner kick. The 6’2” defender charged toward the near post delivery and sent a looping header into the far side netting.
When it would seem that neither team was going to settle for a tie, Davis launched yet another perfect cross to the head of Ching streaking into the box. Davis’s third assist and Ching’s second goal of the night were only denied by a superb athletic save from Rimando, who posted a solid performance for the outing. The veteran duo failed to provide the heroics in this 86th minute effort, so they left matters in the hands of the team’s 21-year-old rookie acquisition.
Dixon’s first MLS goal would give the team three points and momentum to carry along for next Saturday’s long road trip to face the last place Vancouver Whitecaps. The victory also improves the Dynamo to 3-0-2 in its last five outings and 4-1-5 in its last 10 games dating back to June 25. The team now sits five points behind the first place Columbus Crew and one point behind second place Sporting KC in the Eastern Conference standings. Columbus will travel to Seattle, while Kansas City will host Dallas on Aug. 27.
