At halftime things looked up for the Houston Dynamo. They were up two goals and the results had gone in their favor.
Ten minutes into the second half and those good feelings were gone.
Under siege from a motivated Columbus Crew squad, Houston conceded twice out of the locker room turning what would’ve been a bountiful night into one about missed opportunities.
“Yeah, we’re highly disappointed in the result,” said team captain Brad Davis. “Going up two nothing we had a great first half and had a slow start to the second half. We had a great opportunity today with New York and Philly drawing. We had an opportunity to climb again and we missed out on it.”
Seeing out that two-goal lead would have put Houston within three points of the playoffs and closed a five point gap on the Crew. Now the club remains where they started the night; in eighth place and five away from the red line.
Houston’s undoing was their inability to respond out of the locker room.
Twice Houston was caught out of sorts, first by Wil Trapp off a throw-in who exploited a significant cushion in the 48th minute and then again when Ethan Finlay had a space for a free header for a goal that would share the points.
“It’s pretty simple. It was pretty basic defending,” head coach Dominic Kinnear said. “The first goal … we just overloaded on one side and left the field wide open and we’re not tucked in. And then the second one we just got caught not staying with runners in the box.
"A lot of it can come down to a little bit of communication, especially on the throw-in, which really shouldn’t be a dangerous situation. But it became one.”
It was a difference between a Crew team with vigor and a Dynamo team that came out of the locker room flat.
“We just didn’t bring the same energy we had [in the first half],” said center back David Horst. “We need to close games like that out. That’s a sign of a playoff team, a team that can close those games out. Just means we have to go out and win games on the road now.”
The rough start to the second half negated a fantastic start. The first half saw Houston move the ball and put their opponents under pressure with 10 shots. Thanks to an Aaron Schoenfeld own goal and Giles Barnes chip, Houston saw their hard work rewarded.
“I thought we played a wonderful first half, possibly the best first half we played in a long time,” Kinnear said. “Obviously the early goal is a bit of a shock. Then they get a goal right after it and it becomes a bit of a fight.
“It’s a disappointment. We’re looking for three [points] and we have one. That makes the job tough.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
