Jesus Ferreira scored in the 89th minute to lift visiting FC Dallas to a 1-0 win over shorthanded Austin FC on Saturday in the latest rendition of the Texas Derby.
Austin was forced to play with just 10 men for the final 36 minutes of regulation and 11 minutes of second-half stoppage time when Rodney Redes was booked for his second yellow card of the game after a foul on Dallas’ Sebastien Ibeagha at the 54-minute mark.
Dallas pushed for a score against Austin’s compacted defense and produced a chance in the 64th minute on an Alan Velasco shot from outside the box that was saved in the bottom left corner by Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.
Dallas had three more shots but none on target before Ferreira produced the game winner on a right-footed shot past Stuver from the center of the box after a pass on a through ball from Tsiki Ntsabeleng.
FC Dallas (5-3-3, 18 points) won for only the third time in its past seven league matches (not counting a suspended game with St. Louis City on May 5), with two ties over that stretch. FCD has never lost in the regular season to Austin.
Maarten Paes had to make just one save for Dallas while recording his fourth shutout of the year and the 12th clean sheet of his two-year MLS career.
Austin (2-5-4, 10 points) has not won since March 11, a streak of eight matches that started with a loss on the road to its other Lone Star State rival, Houston Dynamo FC.
Austin, which played without the injured Sebastian Driussi (groin) for the second straight league match, had just one shot in the second half but it was not on goal.
Each team produced a good scoring threat in the first half. FC Dallas’s Jader Obrian hit the right post with a right footed shot in the 29th minute after a pass from Jesus Ferreira on a fast break.
Austin answered with the half’s only shot on goal when Adam Lundkvist uncorked a left-footed shot from the left side of the box that forced a save from Paes at the top center of the goal.
–Field Level Media
