The Oakland Raiders made a goal-line stand to keep the Houston Texans at bay to earn their fourth victory of the season in their NFL clash at Reliant Stadium.
The Texans started the game in the worst possible manner as tight end Garrett Graham fumbled the ball, and Raiders cornerback Tracy Porter gathered and took his side to the Houston 20.
From there rookie quarterback Matt McGloin took his side to the five, where he then found Denarius Moore in the end zone for a five-yard touchdown on a slant route over the middle of the field.
Oakland went further ahead in the game following an interception from Texans quarterback Case Keenum as he was picked off by Nick Roach and in the next play McGloin threw the ball downfield for the score to Rod Streater for a 16-yard touchdown.
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The Texans got themselves back into the contest when Keenum and Graham amended for their earlier errors when they combined for a 42-yard touchdown. The quarterback threw the ball deep downfield for the streaking tight end, who made the catch and stepped into the end zone.
Houston were level when Raiders punter Marquette King saw his punt returned for a touchdown by Keshawn Martin for a 87-yard score after he found a hole in the wall of players coming towards him and sprinted through it to the end zone.
Gary Kubiak's side took the lead just before the break when Keenum led them downfield and Randy Bullock knocked a 51-yard field goal between the posts.
After the break, the Raiders responded as McGloin drove his side downfield and delivered a perfect strike down the seam for tight end Mychal Rivera to give Oakland the lead with a 26-yard score.
The Raiders extended their advantage minutes later with a trick play as Rashad Jennings took a direct snap and ran right through the Texans defense and sprinted to the end zone down the left-hand sideline for an 80-yard touchdown.
Houston tried to get level as Kubiak replaced Keenum with Matt Schaub and he led his team downfield on two drives, but they could not get the ball in the end zone and were forced to settle for two field goals.
The Texans' defense tightened late in the game to allow Schaub one last chance to win the game for his side and he got them to the one-yard line, but the Raiders kept them at bay to secure the win.
Simon Sinclair
