Substitute Daniel Steres scored his first goal of the season in the 86th minute and the visiting Houston Dynamo escaped with a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday night.

Steres’ volleyed finish vaulted the Dynamo (9-7-7, 34 points) to a fifth road victory of the season on a night they outshot the last-place Earthquakes 22-9 overall and 7-0 in efforts on target.

The result helped Houston — which began the night in eighth in the Western Conference — keep pace with Seattle and Vancouver, which began the night in the two spots directly above Houston and also completed home wins.

Jacob Jackson made six saves in just his third start of the season and fifth of his career as San Jose (4-18-2, 14 points) continued to show defensive improvement under interim manager Ian Russell.

The Quakes have only conceded eight times in the five games since previous boss Luchi Gonzalez’s departure, against 51 allowed in their first 19 games. But they’ve only scored twice across those five matches.

Despite Houston’s abundance of chances relative to San Jose’s, the Dynamo rarely seriously tested Jackson until Steres finally broke through.

McKinze Gaines found Amine Bassi on the left, and Bassi got around the corner to the byline before looping a cross back toward the penalty area.

Steres met it on the run, and drove his volley low and firm, and while Jackson reached it, he couldn’t keep it from crossing the line.

Houston had more first-half chances, but the best fell to San Jose, which couldn’t hit the target on either of them.

Jeremy Ebobisse fired wide with his foot in the 25th minute, and Benji Kikanovic headed over the bar in the 31st.

The Quakes thought they might have a chance to break through when referee Natalie Simon pointed to the pot following Micael’s challenge on Cristian Espinoza.

But Simon reversed her decision after a look at a sideline replay monitor that showed Micael had made contact with the ball on his challenge.

–Field Level Media