No one will say the Houston Dynamo put on a pretty performance in Saturday afternoon's 1-1 draw with Toronto FC at freezing BMO Field. But the ugliest moment may have been the red card shown to defender Jermaine Taylor, a call that did not sit particularly well with Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear.
“It was just two guys going for the ball,” he told MLSsoccer.com after the game. “It’s tough to comment sitting where I was. I’ve only seen the replay from the side, but from all accounts and from what I’ve heard, it wasn’t a red card and that was my thoughts going into it.”
The ejection meant the Dynamo were forced to play down a man for 32 minutes. And they were already down a goal. Plus, they were down two regulars: Adam Moffat subbed off in the 41st minute with a hamstring injury and Brad Davis did not return after the half with a groin injury.
“It was definitely a game where we never felt like we were able to get into a flow,” goalkeeper Tally Hall told MLSsoccer.com by phone after the match. “There were a lot of things stacked against us. But the mentality of this club has always been to put the work in for your team and yourself and good things will come.”
The good thing eventually did come, when in stoppage time, Toronto center back Darren O’Dea conceded a corner kick under pressure from Will Bruin. The last-gasp chance threw Houston a lifeline, and the visiting club took it with both hands as Warren Creavalle redirected a Ricardo Clark header into the goal to secure their first road point of the season.
“There’s no better time to get a game-tying goal than right there at the end,” Kinnear said. “It wasn’t the best game. It was difficult circumstances all around with the climate and some of the things that happened during the game, but to walk out of there with a point, it was good for us.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
