Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Taylor Kemp, Fabian Espindola and Eddie Johnson all found the back of the net on Sunday as DC United eliminated the Houston Dynamo from playoff contention with a 3-1 result at BBVA Compass Stadium.
United entered the match just hoping to avoid a late-season slump having already clinched a postseason berth, but Ben Olsen's men were up for the challenge, collecting goals from Kemp in the 41st minute, Espindola in the 64th minute and Johnson in the 87th minute to improve to 55 points with two games remaining in the regular season.
Houston, meanwhile. entered the match with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread after Columbus' comeback win over Philadelphia on Saturday, but Dominic Kinnear's side rarely displayed the urgency required of the situation and suffered its 15th defeat of the season.
It was an inauspicious beginning to proceedings as lightning caused the game to be delayed after 22 minutes of play, but when things got back underway, it was United that had the better of play.
The visiting side opened the scoring four minutes before the break when Espindola sent Chris Pontius in on goal with a nice through ball. Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric did well to take the ball off the feet of Pontius, but the rebound fell to Kemp, who fired into the empty net.
United doubled their lead in the 64th minute as a Houston free kick was blocked by the DC wall and the ball found it way to Espindola at midfield, who went in alone seeing that the Houston center backs were nowhere to be found.
Espindola sauntered in on goal and deftly chipped it over the head of Deric for his 10th goal of the season.
Houston got back into the match in the 83rd minute as Ricardo Clark was pulled down in the box during a corner kick, resulting in a penalty kick which Giles Barnes converted with ease.
But United put the result away three minutes from time when Johnson got free inside the area and collected a quick pass from David Estrada before depositing it past Deric with ease to wrap up all three points and put an end to Houston's playoff hopes.
