Ondrej Lingr scored in the 61st minute in his first start for Houston and Ezequiel Ponce added an insurance tally 18 minutes later to carry the host Dynamo to a 2-0 victory over short-handed Austin FC on Saturday in a Western Conference match between Lone Star State rivals.
Houston (2-4-4, 10 points) won for the second time in its past four matches and has recorded points in all four of its MLS contests in April. Jonathan Bond recorded two saves for the Dynamo to record his first clean sheet of the season.
Lingr, signed as the Dynamo’s designated player from SK Slavia Prague last month, scored for the second straight game after finding the net as a substitute in the 96th minute in Houston’s draw with Colorado on April 19.
On Saturday, Lingr’s patience was on display when scoring the Dynamo’s first goal. He used his chest to steady a poor clearing pass from Austin’s Owen Wolff before unleashing a right footed shot between the legs of a defender and past keeper Brad Stuver into the bottom-left corner of the net.
The Verde (5-4-1, 16 points) were at far less than full strength at the start of the match — and that situation got worse a third of the way through the initial Copa Tejas battle of the season.
Brendan Hines-Ike was suspended from the game for yellow card accumulation and key offensive threat Brandon Vazquez (who had a goal on team-high seven shots on April 19) was out with an undisclosed illness.
Austin then lost playmaking midfielder Dani Pereira to an upper-right leg injury after he took a lengthy shot in the 29th minute.
Austin had an excellent opportunity to score in the 41st minute. Myrto Uzuni directed a soft shot toward Bond that bounced off the Houston goalkeeper but the rebound stayed inside the 6-yard box and gave Jader Obrian a look at goal and kick that was blocked by Dynamo defender Franco Escobar.
The Dynamo added to the lead in the 79th minute. Griffin Dorsey carried the ball deep into the penalty area before threading a perfect pass to Ponce to the left. Ponce worked the ball to his left foot and hammered a shot past Stuver, who had no chance to make the save.
–Field Level Media
