Ezequiel Ponce scored his 10th goal to lift the Houston Dynamo to what could be a crucial 1-0 victory over the visiting Portland Timbers on Saturday night.
Jonathan Bond made three stops to preserve his sixth clean sheet and Houston’s ninth overall as the fight for a potential playoff spot continued.
The Dynamo (9-13-9, 36 points) are in 10th place in the Western Conference, but only one point back of the ninth and final playoff spot held by FC Dallas.
James Pantemis made six saves for Portland, which has been shut out in three of its last six matches and won only once in that span.
Despite that, the Timbers (11-10-9, 42 points) will finish the night sixth in the West, though they could be overtaken by Austin, which plays Seattle on Sunday.
Houston snapped a four-match home winless run on Ponce’s goal just before halftime, which came from a corner kick from the left.
Jack McGlynn played the outswinging service toward the back corner of the 6-yard box. And Ponce lost marking defender David Ayala before powering a virtually uncontested header past Pantemis.
McGlynn nearly doubled Houston’s lead in the 66th minute. This time Ponce provided the decoy run as McGlynn collected a pass near the top of the 18-yard box. But Pantemis made a superb diving stop to deny McGlynn’s low effort, which looked to be heading just inside the left post.
Then in the 71st, McGlynn had another opportunity from the top of the box, but he fired his first-time effort narrowly over the crossbar.
In the 78th minute, Portland’s Matias Rojas nearly scored a spectacular equalizer, with his left-footed strike from beyond the penalty area rattling Bond’s crossbar.
McGlynn tested Pantemis again in the 85th minute, with Pantemis again diving low to push away a well-struck effort.
In the 89th minute, Bond reacted well at his near post to push another effort from Rojas out for a corner.
Then in second-half stoppage time, it was David Da Costa hitting the right post with another potentiaal equalizing effort from long range.
–Field Level Media
