Salt Lake improves — but not enough

FRISCO, Texas — The Real Salt Lake locker room was subdued as expected following Saturday's loss, but there was a slight sense of pride that wasn't there last weekend.

Sure, a loss is a loss. And Saturday's 2-1 setback at FC Dallas was no different. But there was a silver lining associated with this particular loss — at least the team competed, something that couldn't be said about last weekends's season-opening loss at Chivas.

"It's frustrating. You feel bad for the guys because you feel they competed for 90 plus and didn't come away with a point," said RSL coach John Ellinger. "Hopefully, we can build on it."

The passing was better, the work rate was better, but in the end, it was another road loss for a franchise still seeking its first victory away from Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"We played 90 minutes of hard-fought soccer, which we didn't do for one minute last week," said RSL midfield Andy Williams.

Ironically enough, despite an effort that Ellinger dubbed the best road performance in team history, it was a series of unfortunate bounces in the second half that led to the loss.

Dallas scored the eventual game winner in the 57th minute on a shot that Mark Wilson deflected into the net on an attempt by RSL's Carey Talley to clear the ball off the line. When the roles were reversed in stoppage time, RSL wasn't so lucky. Douglas Sequeira had a shot cleared off the line by Bobby Rhine, and then Eddie Pope had the same thing happen to him a minute later by Clarence Goodson.

"Eventually we're going to start scoring — the ball's going to start going in for us. The key is to stay positive and believe in each other and continue to work together as a team," said Jeff Cunningham. "I thought the effort was great, and that's the effort we're going to need every night."

A big part of that was Salt Lake's commitment to shoring up the midfield by inserting Kenny Cutler alongside Douglas Sequeira. Even though Dallas enjoy nearly twice as many chances as Salt Lake (19-11), many of those chances came via the wings, not necessarily through the middle of the field.

The move came at a price, and it was obviously on the offensive side. In fact, RSL's only goal of the game came on a set piece.