Houston midfielder Stuart Holden scored for the third straight game, providing the only goal in the Dynamo’s 1-0 win over Western Conference leaders Chivas USA Wednesday night at Robertson Stadium. The Dynamo’s fourth straight win and ninth game without a loss pulled them within three points of Chivas, while holding two games in hand.

“It was a hard game tonight. They clogged the midfield and made it difficult for us. I think the guys worked hard on a pretty difficult night to physically play 90 minutes,” Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said. Game time temperature was reported at 87 degrees, with typically high Houston humidity.

New Houston forward Cam Weaver, acquired from San Jose on Tuesday, got a surprising start after only one practice with the team and picked up the assist on Holden’s goal in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half. It was Route 1 football, as Weaver flicked on a long kick from goalkeeper Pat Onstad into the path of Holden, who got behind Paulo Nagamura and then rounded Chivas keeper Zach Thornton to tap into the net.

“I was a little frustrated at the start of the season without a goal. When that first one went in, it was kind of like the door opened. I keep getting chances, and keep finishing them off, and that’s what I’m in there to do,” Holden said.

“We gave up the dumbest goal ever from a goal kick,” Chivas USA coach Preki said.

Both teams had significant absences, with Houston missing Ricardo Clark to international duty, while Brian Ching had aggravated a hamstring injury during training with the US national team last week. Chivas has had a lengthy injury list all season, including forward Ante Razov and defender Lawson Vaughn, and was also missing Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan to Confederations Cup duty with the US.

Chivas threw a wrench into Houston’s offense in the first half by packing the midfield with a 4-5-1 formation that had Jesse Marsch, Sasha Victorine and Nagamura in a triangle in the middle of the field, and Maykel Galindo as a lone striker.

“They came out and sat back and made it difficult. We had a hard time getting going the first half, because there weren’t a lot of passing lanes. You have to give them credit for taking away everything we were trying to do,” Kinnear said.

“I think we had a pretty solid first half. We didn’t give too many things away, and they finished the only chance we gave them to score,” Nagamura said.

Chivas was not credited with a shot in the first half, however. They had to open up the game more in the second half, eventually moving Atiba Harris forward along with substitute Eduardo Lillingston for more of a 4-3-3 look.

Weaver looked to have added a goal to his assist when he headed in Kei Kamara’s cross in the 49th minute, only to have it disallowed on a questionable offsides call.

“I think I have a lot more to offer. I haven’t played in a few weeks, so the fitness isn’t really where I want it to be. Hopefully I can get some more minutes and get the fitness up and be a little sharper,” Weaver said.

“We just felt (Weaver’s) ability in the air would take a little bit of physical pressure off of Kei. He was a handful against us when we played against (San Jose), especially in the air, and coincidentally, his flick on leads to Stuart’s goal,” Kinnear said when asked about starting his new acquisition so quickly. He also said the decision was no reflection on the play of Ade Akinbiyi, who had started last Friday in Ching’s absence against Chicago.

Houston had one of their trademark set pieces nearly result in a clinching goal in the 64th minute, when Andrew Hainault headed Holden’s cross back from the far post to an unmarked Bobby Boswell in front of goal, but Nagamura cleared Boswell’s header off the line.

Despite the numbers Chivas pushed forward in the late stages, Onstad’s only test came in the 83rd minute, when he parried away Galindo’s shot from the top of the box.

“Galindo gets a little bit of space, he probably doesn’t have time to really line it up, so he toe pokes it. He probably didn’t get as much on it as he would have liked, and it was kind of floating. I was worried about not spilling the rebound to Lillingston, who was wide open there,” Onstad said.

“We played decent the first 30 minutes and we controlled the tempo of the game during the last 15 minutes,” Preki said.

It seems as though a Houston-Chivas meeting is never complete without a dustup, and the Dynamo players were furious in the closing minutes when Chivas did not play the ball back after referee Jorge Gonzalez whistled play dead for Shavar Thomas’ injury while Houston had the ball. The dispute continued past the final whistle.

“I’ve never seen a team do that. It’s just disappointing,” said Houston’s Brian Mullan, who was in the face of Chivas captain Carey Talley at one point.

“I don’t think the referee needs to blow his whistle. In the rules that we’ve talked about in preseason, it’s up to the team in possession of the ball to make their decision to play the ball out, unless it’s a head injury or the goalkeeper is injured,” Kinnear said.

The Dynamo now face a rivalry game at FC Dallas on short rest Saturday night, but they can at least temporarily take the conference lead with a win, depending on Chivas’ result at Columbus on Sunday.

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

Onstad 7.5 – did what he needed to do with the one chance from Galindo

Waibel 7 – exposed by speed on a couple of occasions

Boswell 8 – he and Cameron were twin towers in the air

Cameron 8 – see above

Hainault 7.5 – Barrett will have to work to win the spot back

Mullan 8 – controlled the right side defensively
Mulrooney 7 – solid, unfortunate that he’s compared to what Clark provides

Holden 7.5 – super finish

Davis 6.5 – mainly invisible (Ashe 88’ NR)

Kamara 7 – also a drop off from past few weeks (Akinbiyi 85’ 5 – at least one touch of concrete)

Weaver 7.5 – the assist was just what Kinnear was looking for from him (Oduro 74’ 7 – a chance or two to show his speed, and also contributed some hold up play)

MATCH FACTS

Chivas USA at Houston Dynamo, May 30, 2009
Robertson Stadium, Attendance: 14,516

Scoring Summary:
HOU – Stuart Holden (Cam Weaver) 47+

Misconduct Summary:
CHV – Carey Talley (caution; Persistent Infringement) 39
HOU – Bobby Boswell (caution; Tactical Foul) 53

Lineups:
Houston
G – Pat Onstad
D – Craig Waibel, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Andrew Hainault
M – Brian Mullan, Richard Mulrooney (c), Stuart Holden, Brad Davis (Corey Ashe 88)
F – Kei Kamara (Ade Akinbiyi 85), Cam Weaver (Dominic Oduro 74)

Substitutes not used – Tally Hall, Wade Barrett, Mike Chabala, Danny Cruz

Chivas USA
G – Zach Thornton
D – Jim Curtin (Claudio Suarez 73), Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Jorge Flores
M – Michael Lahoud (Eduardo Lillingston 60), Jesse Marsch (c) (Alecko Eskandarian 66), Paulo Nagamura, Sasha Victorine, Atiba Harris
F – Maykel Galindo

Substitutes not used – Lance Parker, Gerson Mayen, Ante Jazic, Bojan Stepanovic

Shots: Houston 11, Chivas USA 3. Shots on goal: Houston 6, Chivas USA 1. Fouls: Houston 11, Chivas USA 9. Offsides: Houston 4, Chivas USA 1. Corners: Houston 3, Chivas USA 1. Saves: Houston 1, Chivas USA 5.