Austin blanks Houston in Copa Tejas clash

Myrto Uzuni scored a goal and assisted on a tally by Jayden Nelson as host Austin FC defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0 on Saturday in the latest edition of the Copa Tejas series between the Lone Star State rivals.

Austin (2-4-4, 10 points) bounced back from a 5-1 thrashing at San Jose on Wednesday with a dominating first half and then held on as the Dynamo never mounted more than a tepid rally in the second half.

The Verde snapped a seven-match MLS winless streak dating back to a 1-0 home victory over D.C. United on March 1 as goalkeeper Brad Stuver stopped five shots to record his third clean sheet of the year. Austin improved to 6-1-1 in eight all-time league matches against the Dynamo at home.

Houston (4-5-0, 12 points) had a two-game MLS winning streak snapped and was held without a goal for the third time this year.

The Verde were the aggressor through the match's early minutes and earned a dividend for that strategy when Nelson found the net in the 13th minute.

Uzuni started the scoring play with a pass in the box to Facundo Torres, who drew the Houston defense toward the right side of the area. Torres then passed across the box to Nelson, who steadied the ball onto his right foot before whipping a curving shot past Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond off the inside of the right post and over the goal line to give Austin the lead.

That was the first goal Bond and the Dynamo defense had allowed in 193 minutes after recording back-to-back clean sheet wins in the team's past two league matches.

Bond stopped a pair of low-percentage shots from Christian Ramirez in the 21st and 27th minutes before Houston tested Stuver with shots from Hector Herrera in the 30th minute and Mateusz Bogusz a minute later.

Uzuni had to feel unlucky when he clanged a shot off the left post in the 35th minute but was repaid when his free kick two minutes into first-half stoppage time deflected off Houston's defensive wall and bounded past Bond into the bottom-left corner of the goal to double the Verde's advantage.

Neither team produced a serious scoring threat after halftime.