Real Salt Lake cruised to a 3-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo in their MLS clash.
The Dynamo were the first to threaten when Nathan Sturgis found the run of Ricardo Clark in the box, but his strike was well saved by Nick Rimando.
Juan Manuel Martinez carved out the first opportunity of the match for Real when he raided down the left flank and fired a low ball into the box, but Devon Sandoval sent his strike over the bar.
Salt Lake took the lead just before the break when Javier Morales pounced on a loose ball in the box and fired his shot through a crowd of players into the net.
In the second half, Brad Davis almost got Houston back into the game when he latched on to a cross to the back post, but his header was well saved by Rimando.
The visitors doubled their advantage as Martinez was allowed to shoot at goal and although his strike was saved by Tyler Deric, Sandoval was alert to fire the rebound into the net.
Houston were handed the chance to get back into the game when John Stertzer was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area. Davis took the spot kick and fired his effort past Rimando.
Real restored their two-goal advantage as Martinez raced down the flank and from a tight angle fired his effort past Deric to secure the win for his team.
Simon Sinclair
