Dynamo hold on to beat St. Louis, climb standings

Ezequiel Ponce scored his eighth goal of the season midway to the first half, Duane Holmes added his first MLS goal in the second, and the visiting Houston Dynamo held on to 3-2 victory despite a furious late rally by St. Louis City on Saturday night.

Ponce was also pressuring on the second-half sequence that led to an own-goal scored by St. Louis defender Henry Kessler. The Dynamo (8-12-8, 32 points) eventually needed all three tallies to seal a result that lifted them into 10th in the Western Conference standings, three points beneath ninth-place San Jose and the playoff line.

Eduard Lowen scored in the 86th minute and Mykhi Joyner added his first MLS goal in the 89th minute for St. Louis (5-17-6, 21 points) in its first game since the dismissal of sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel earlier this week.

Despite the valiant late effort, the loss was the eighth in 10 league matches for interim manager David Critchley's group,

The hosts began brightly but went behind against the run of play in the 20th minute.

Lawrence Ennali won a Houston free kick beyond the left corner of the St. Louis penalty area.

Jack McGlynn swung in an outswinging service and Ponce outmuscled his defender to head past Roman Burki from about five yards out. It was Ponce's sixth goal in an away match, and his second in as many games against St. Louis this season.

In the 50th minute, Ponce was again the target when Griffin Dorsey got down the right and played in an early cross. It skipped past the striker, off the legs of the defending Kessler and across the line before Burki could react.

Then in the 72nd minute, Ondrej Lingr seized up on a misplay by defender Fallou Fall, drove into the right side of the penalty area and then struck a low cross. Holmes met it in stride for a first-time finish over the sprawling Burki and under the bar.

After Lowen's half-volley from the edge of the penalty area and Joyner's header of Chris Durkin's cross, St. Louis nearly found the equalizer when Joao Klaus struck the post in second-half stoppage time.

--Field Level Media