Houston, Texas — With the Dynamo’s last trip to the west coast a success, coach Owen Coyle was hoping for more of the same from Houston as they travelled to Seattle to take on last years Supporters Shield winners the Seattle Sounders.

Much was made about the surface Houston would play on at Century Link — turf. The Dynamo are used to this coming round every once in a while and before the squad travelled to Seattle forward Giles Barnes brushed off concerns over the surface saying “you cant really prepare for it, the boys know it comes around every few months or so. You deal with it.”

ProstAmerika.com asked coach Owen Coyle if it might be an advantage because of the possession football that he’s tying to play with the Dynamo, citing the speed of turf pitched versus natural grass. Coyle told me “it’s key that you pass the ball to feet because of the turf because it can run away from you at times” but was coy on branding turf an “advantage” saying “as we do with opponents — looking at strengths and weaknesses — that also applies to the field.”

Early in the first half was the injury to Raul Rodriguez. Tyler Deric game out and punched away a Sounders cross, but in the process he caught Rodriguez with his elbow. Rodriguez was on the ground for a number of minutes receiving medical treatment for a large cut to the forehead and was replaced by David Horst.

Just like in LA injuries were the headline for the Dynamo in this game going into their next home game, this time against Montreal Impact who will be on short rest after playing in Costa Rica on Wednesday night, fighting for CONCACAF Champions League glory vs Alajuelence.

Despite the injury, and expectations, the Dynamo produced their best performances of the season against Seattle. The passing was sharp and crisp, the flat 3 in the center of midfield of Luis Garrido, Ricardo Clark and Nathan Sturgis ran the show like they did in LA.

Despite the Dynamo’s dominance it was the Sounders who drew first blood. Clint Dempsey capitalized on an error in the Dynamo midfield before passing to Obafemi Martins who went “FIFA right stick” mode, spinning past Jermaine Taylor, before slotting into the far corner from 12 yards.

It looked to me like Taylor was turned rather easily, but that’s only because he overran himself getting back to defend Martins’ run. It was unfortunate because Taylor would’ve had good position on Martins but his center of gravity was dragging him back rather than keeping him stood up. All in all a good finish, but i’m sure Taylor will think he could’ve done more.

In the 56th minute Gonzalo Pineda was sent off for a cleats up, chest high challenge on Ricardo Clark. It was certainly a scary moment for Dynamo fans with Clark playing through a costochondral fracture.

The Dynamo struggled to take advantage of playing versus 10 men, largely because the Sounders simply sat deep for the rest of the game, they even ended the game with three center backs — not something you always see Seattle do. One should wonder if the Dynamo could’ve carved out a result if the match had ended 11 v 11.

The Dynamo brought on Will Bruin to play alongside Giles Barnes after the Pineda sending of but couldn’t really carve out any clear cut chances. Much has been made of the Dynamo’s offensive woes of late. Before the game Houston had ranked last in Major League Soccer in both average shots on goal (8 per game), and average shots on target (2 per game).

The Dynamo outshot Seattle 16-5 so they managed to create more chances — that’s encouraging. The 2 shots on target is not so encouraging. Despite the uptick in chances creates, the Dynamo still looked rather disjointed while Barnes was on his own up front. It looked a little better when Will Bruin came on but ultimately the Dynamo are still lacking somebody to link the play behind the midfield and the attack.

Houston’s best chances included a 20-yard volley from Nathan Sturgis that slipped past the far post, a 25-yard free kick from Giles Barnes that nearly hit the upper corner and a shot from Clark at the top of the box that forced Frei into a save. Other than that the Dynamo failed to force Frei into a meaningful save.

There are positives to draw from the game in Seattle. First is that if the Dynamo play like they did versus Seattle then they should be just fine going forward in the western conference with regard to a playoff push, secondly David Horst came in for the injured Raul Rodriguez and had another very solid game for the Dynamo, and thirdly Ricardo Clark came through the game unscathed.

The Houston Dynamo’s next game is against the Montreal Impact — Saturday, April 11, 7.30pm CT, BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston Texas.

Houston Dynamo: Tyler Deric; Kofi Sarkodie, Raúl Rodríguez (David Horst 26), DaMarcus Beasley; Boniek Garcia (Leonel Miranda 72), Ricardo Clark, Nathan Sturgis, Luis Garrido (Will Bruin 64), Brad Davis ©; Giles Barnes

Substitutes Not Used: Joe Willis, Rob Lovejoy, Chandler Hoffman, Alexander Lopez

TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Giles Barnes 4, Nathan Sturgis 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Giles Barnes 1, Ricardo Clark 1); FOULS: 13 (Giles Barnes 4); OFFSIDES: 1 (Ricardo Clark 1); CORNER KICKS: 7 (Brad Davis 6); SAVES: 1 (Tyler Deric 1)

Seattle Sounders FC: Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Brad Evans, Chad Marshall, Dylan Remick; Andy Rose, Osvaldo Alonso (Zach Scott 73), Gonzalo Pineda (ejected 56), Lamar Neagle (Michael Azira 60); Clint Dempsey (Leonardo Gonzalez 87), Obafemi Martins

Substitutes Not Used: Troy Perkins, Aaron Kovar, Marco Pappa, Chad Barrett

TOTAL SHOTS: 5 (Obafemi Martins 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Obafemi Martins 1, Osvaldo Alonso 1); FOULS: 11 (Tyrone Mears 3); OFFSIDE: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3 (Gonzalo Pineda 1, Andy Rose 1, Tyrone Mears 1); SAVES: 2 (Stefan Frei 2)

Disciplinary Summary:

SEA: Andy Rose (caution) 17

HOU: Luis Garrido (caution) 39

HOU: Ricardo Clark (caution) 45+3

HOU: Jermaine Taylor (caution) 52

SEA: Gonzalo Pineda (ejection) 56

Referee: Ted Unkel

Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Paul Scott

Fourth Official: Allen Chapman