Match maker: Findley makes mark with 2 goals in his RSL debut

Hallelujah.

Between the mistakes, the coaching change, more mistakes, a pair of trades and then even more mistakes, it's been a ridiculously frustrating season for Real Salt Lake this year.

For one night at least, RSL put all that consternation to rest with its first win of the season. It wasn't easy by any means either, but for a team on a 15-game winless streak dating back to last year, could one expect anything less?

After dominating the first hour and taking the lead on a pair of goals from newcomer Robbie Findley, Real Salt Lake survived five minutes of stoppage time to beat red-hot D.C. United 2-1 at Rice-Eccles Stadium Saturday night.

"The monkey's off the back right now, but we know the next game is ahead of us," said Real midfielder Carey Talley, who played for the first time in a month because of a leg stress fracture. "With the performance we put out tonight, the hard work, the effort, that's going to be expected of us every game, and it should be."

The result reiterated just how unpredictable soccer can be.

At the start of the year, the talk locally was about how great RSL would be with players like Freddy Adu and Chris Klein at the two wide midfield positions. Three months later, and with both players elsewhere, RSL finally won a game.

"I think bringing in some new blood, maybe that's what it takes sometimes," said Talley. "It's not a knock against either one of those guys, but the kid came in, and what a great debut."

Just days after Adu joined the Under-20 U.S. National Team in preparation for the FIFA World Youth Championships, RSL traded Klein to the Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for Findley and Nathan Sturgis. Findley made it look like a brilliant trade by scoring in the 41st and 50th minutes to give Real a 2-0 lead.

Those two tallies put RSL in unfamiliar territory.

"It felt extremely good to go into halftime with a 1-0 result, that was a new feeling for me," said Kreis, who picked up his first coaching win. "Having the lead was a new feeling for me, thinking about making changes in a defensive manner, that was a new feeling for me tonight, but hopefully we're going to have a lot more."

Throughout the difficult times this year RSL tried to remain positive, insisting that once it won one game, more would follow. Its next match is on the Fourth of July against Toronto FC.