by ANTHONY J. MERCED

Staff Writer

Despite late pushes from both teams, the Houston Dynamo and NYCFC played to a 1-1 draw, extending New York’s winless streak to eleven games.

David Villa had a fantastic performance spreading the ball across the field and converting a penalty right at the end of the first half. On the other side Tyler Deric’s goalkeeping for Houston was the key to preserving the draw. The keeper made a “save of the year” candidate in the 89th minute off of a wide open look from midfielder Jen Brovsky.

“The players need to be a little more brave,” said head coach Jason Kreis. The New York helmsman was far more critical of his team’s performance than the Chicago game a few weeks earlier. “We are certainly capable of playing better and we did for long stretches of that first half ”

NYCFC started the game strong in the first half as Houston was content to pick up counter opportunities. David Villa was particularly dangerous, curling a bowl just past the post only two minutes into the game. From there the ex-Barcelona man would provide phenomenal service into the box with no one being able to connect. Houston broke the scoring open on their first corner in the 15th minute. The ball bounced in the box and Will Bruin connected to put the Dynamo up early. It seemed destined to go into the half with Houston leading until a handball in the box by Raul Rodriguez set up a penalty opportunity for David Villa who converted for his third goal of the season.

The second half was back and forth with both teams surrendering chances but not being able to finish. Josh Saunders came up big in the 84th minute when Giles Barnes had a clear chance on goal. From there New York hit Houston with a barrage of chances. First was Brovsky’s sitter that brought a great save from Tyler Deric then a Patrick Mullins opportunity that skipped wide in stoppage time.

“When you are losing your confidence suffers,” said captain David Villa. “We are having that issue when we are one goal down especially in the back. We have to continue to work hard ”

Much has been made of NYCFC’s winless streak which now stretches to eleven. Despite the result the team had many positives to take into next week’s trip to Philadelphia against the Union.