Sporting Kansas City and 10-man Houston Dynamo played out a 1-1 draw in their MLS clash at Sporting Park.
The home side took the lead in the sixth minute when Benny Feilhaber lifted a free kick into the box and Dominic Dwyer guided a header past Tyler Deric.
Houston almost hit back when Will Bruin was played through on goal, but Tim Melia rushed off his line and smothered the ball at the feet of the forward to prevent the strike.
Dynamo pressed forward through Brad Davis who unleashed a powerful strike towards the bottom corner, but Melia got down low to his right to parry the ball behind.
In the second half, Dwyer came close to adding a second for Kansas City when he turned Graham Zusi's corner towards goal, only to see his effort cleared off the line by DaMarcus Beasley.
Dwyer continued to cause problems for Sporting as he timed his run to the near post to latch on to Feilhaber's cross, but he put his header inches wide of the post.
The home side had an excellent chance to double their lead when Krisztian Nemeth raided forward into the box and cut the ball back for Dwyer, but with the goal at his mercy, his effort was blocked by David Horst.
Houston capitalised on the play by Horst as they equalised two minutes later when Ricardo Clark headed Davis's free kick beyond Melia into the net.
The visitors ended the game with 10 men after Nathan Sturgis was dismissed for a poor challenge on Roger Espinoza, while Nemeth looked to have stolen the win for the home side at the death with a powerful strike, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Simon Sinclair
