Then the dynamic changed in the 36th minute on a back pass from Zach Scott that came off the veterans foot the wrong way. Robbie Keane doggedly intercepted the loose pass and fired a shot by Stefan Frei to make it 1-0 LA.

Multiple times it looks close to working as a cross fells to Martins or Ivanchitz, but neither could bring it under control. The Galaxy meanwhile found good breaks on loose passes but they were quickly dealt with by Evans or Scott.

The night looked lost until finally, in the third minute of stoppage, the home side got their goal. Marco Pappa fired in a corner that Brad Evans redirected right in front of Chad Barrett who stamped it in for the late equalizer.

The last ten minutes saw Seattle push everyone forward as chance after chance was created. In the 83rd Ricketts pushed a long range Dempsey effort out for a corner. In the 86th Chad Barrett beat Ricketts but was denied only due to a goal line clearance from DeLaGarza. And finally in the second minute of stoppage time Dempsey’s chip from an impossibly narrow angle flies just over the bar to land on the top netting.

Seattle chased for a second but with only two minutes left LA stood resolute and held on for their point. That point put LA back on top of the Western Conference at 51 points from 32 games and allows Seattle to hold steady at fifth with 47 from 32. Their playoff spots all but assured it’s a result LA would’ve been happy with had they not lead for 54 minutes. Seattle meanwhile got the monkey off their back with a result against LA and stretch their unbeaten streak to six games.

In the 66th minute Sigi Schmid made it clear that he wanted three points on the night when he subbed in Marco Pappa and Erik Friberg on for the struggling Neagle and Pineda while also pushing Mears farther and farther forward.

Gerrard and Juninho started to sit back in order to plug the gaps and stifle Dempsey and Martins. Into that space popped Marco Pappa who stayed central allowing Friberg and Alonso to focus on quick recoveries to eliminate outlets and amp up the pressure against LA