Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad rescued two points for his team in a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids Sunday afternoon at Robertson Stadium, making a fantastic double save of a penalty kick and a rebound in the 84th minute. Brian Ching’s 20th minute goal stood up to give the Dynamo their first win of the season.

Onstad had hardly been tested all afternoon before he tipped Conor Casey’s penalty kick off the crossbar, then scrambled across the goal to save Terry Cooke’s flying header on the rebound.

“You get a hunch (on the penalty kick), a bit of fortune. And on the rebound, you’re hoping you get a chance to get across,” Onstad said.

“I thought it was going to be another frustrating afternoon, but Pat comes up with a great save. It would have been a very hollow feeling to walk out of here with one (point),” said Houston coach Dominic Kinnear.

Houston was in desperate need of picking up a home win after two draws, especially with a bye week approaching before a road trip to New England. Ade Akinbiyi is still waiting on his work visa before he can, but the club finally completed the transfer paperwork this week for defender Andrew Hainault. Hainault was available as a substitute for today’s game but did not make an appearance..

Colorado entered the game unbeaten in their last three, including a win and a tie on the road in their previous two matches.

The first few minutes saw more offensive sparks from the Dynamo than all 90 minutes of the dreary scoreless draw last week against New York. Ching forced a good save from Preston Burpo in the fifth minute, then Davis hit the outside of the left post in the eighth minute.

“We came out of the gates with some of our best stuff of the year, thoroughly deserved to be ahead 1-0,” Kinnear said.

Houston;s goal came when the Rapids gave Brad Davis too much room on the left wing, allowing him to cross a ball that Ching nodded over Burpo and off the inside of the right post.

“Anytime Brad gets the ball with time and space, I’m going to make a run in front of my defender. I got a little bit fortunate with the finish, but it was a good play all around,” Ching said.

“Brian relies on service in the box. Anytime Brad gets the ball 25, 30 yards out and has time on it, he can pick him out. It kind of took a weird path to the goal, but we haven’t had any luck since we took the field against New York in last year’s playoffs,” Kinnear said.

Kinnear wanted to see more of Davis working the left wing. On the goal, Rapids right midfielder Nick LaBrocca was way too late coming out to help right fullback Kosuke Kimura.

“I was telling the guys to keep (passing to Davis), because LaBrocca was pinching in so much, it was leaving Brad open quite a lot, and I don’t think we found him as much as we should have,” Kinnear said.

Houston certainly deserved the halftime lead, but after the first 20 minutes, they created no decent chances for a second goal. The Rapids could only manage long balls to Casey, or attempts to combine with fellow forward Omar Cummings, but to no great effect.

“I was very pleased with the character and commitment for probably two-thirds of the game,” said Rapids head coach Gary Smith. “I thought the opening 20 minutes belonged to Houston. That was a little expected, giving the way their form had been coming into today. We turned the tables in the second period.”

The Dynamo couldn’t find the same fluidity in the second half, but Colorado was seldom capable of mounting a threat either.

“I think in the first half we were a lot better. It was a lot uglier in the second half. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but at the end of the year, you don’t remember how pretty the game was, you remember how many points you had, and today we got three,” Dynamo defender Bobby Boswell said.

The Rapids finally got an opportunity to steal a point when Casey took off on a run down the left wing, beating three Dynamo defenders to break free at the left of goal getting chopped down by Geoff Cameron. The referee pointed to the spot, setting up Onstad’s heroics.

“I just said, ‘Thank God, Pat, you saved the day, bro.’ I gave him a big hug,” Cameron said.

MATCH FACTS

Colorado Rapids at Houston Dynamo, April 19, 2009
Robertson Stadium, Attendance: 12,708

Scoring Summary:
HOU – Brian Ching (Brad Davis, Stuart Holden) 20

Misconduct Summary:
COL – Conor Casey (caution; Reckless Tackle) 25
COL – Colin Clark (caution; Reckless Tackle) 28
HOU – Ricardo Clark (caution; Reckless Tackle) 34
COL – Pablo Mastroeni (caution; Reckless Foul) 58
HOU – Brad Davis (caution; Reckless Tackle) 63
COL – Omar Cummings (caution; Goalkeeper Interference) 73

Lineups:
Houston
G – Pat Onstad
D – Richard Mulrooney, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Wade Barrett (c)
M – Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Brad Davis
F – Kei Kamara, Brian Ching (Corey Ashe 86)

Substitutes not used – Tally Hall, Danny Cruz, Andrew Hainault, Julius James, Chris Wondolowski

Colorado
G – Preston Burpo
D – Kosuke Kimura, Ugo Ihemelu, Scott Palguta, Jordan Harvey
M – Nick LaBrocca (Terry Cooke 68), Pablo Mastroeni (c), Mehdi Ballouchy, ColinClark
F- Conor Casey, Omar Cummings

Substitutes not used – Matt Pickens, Cory Gibbs, Greg Dalby, Ty Harden, Jacob Peterson, Gregory Richardson

Shots: Houston 8, Colorado 7. Shots on goal: Houston 3, Colorado 3. Fouls: Houston 15, Colorado 15. Offsides: Houston 6, Colorado 1. Corners: Houston 3, Colorado 1. Saves: Houston 3, Colorado 2.

Houston Player Ratings (on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best)

Onstad 8.5 – when called upon, two incredible saves in five seconds
Mulrooney 6.5 – OK defensively
Boswell 7 – fought well against Casey, but was beaten on the play leading to the PK
Cameron 6.5 – downmarked for the foul on the PK
Barrett 7 – a good block in stoppage time on a Cooke shot
Mullan 6 – another off game
Clark 6.5 – contributed defensively, but had a couple of giveaways in midfield
Holden 7 – combined well with Ching and Kamara
Davis 7.5 – much better from the wing than last week
Kamara 7 – was part of the good early work in the middle
Ching 7.5 – did what he needed to do with the chance from Davis (Ashe 86’ NR)