HOUSTON — Minutes away from one of their most impressive road wins in a long time, Real Salt Lake let in another late goal, settling for yet another tie Saturday night.

All things considered, though, the team will take it.

In what became a matter of survival for the visitors on a swelteringly hot and humid night at Robertson Stadium, RSL played the final half hour with 10 men after a ridiculously silly Jamison Olave red card and somehow hung on for a 1-1 tie against a Houston team now on an impressive 11-game unbeaten streak.

"It is somewhat bittersweet because I feel the locker room and myself and the coaching staff feels like we deserved three points tonight, and if we had been able to keep 11 players on the field I'm quite certain we would've walked away with the three," said RSL coach Jason Kreis.

His team nearly pulled it off with 10 men anyway.

Leading 1-0 following Olave's red card, Real Salt Lake made it hold up another 32 minutes before Brian Ching slipped in between a pair of defenders and easily buried the equalizing goal in the 89th minute.

"Any time you can come to Houston you're not expected to get a result, so a point is a very good result," said RSL defender Tony Beltran.

RSL improves modestly to 4-6-4 with the tie, but the players feel unfortunate about letting three points slip away just a few weeks after losing similar points at home against Colorado.

"Before the game you're happy with the point, but after the game you want to be greedy and want more," said midfielder Will Johnson.

Despite Houston's glossy record as of late and the league's stingiest defense, Real Salt Lake came into the match a confident bunch after its first road victory of the season last weekend in Los Angeles where RSL beat the Galaxy.

That confidence led to a very productive first half with a fortuitous bounce putting RSL in front in the 28th minute.

Yura Movsisyan set up Fabian Espindola wonderfully with a clever back heel in the box, but Espindola's would-be easy finish was heading wide left before it glanced off Houston defender Bobby Boswell and into the back of the net.

Espindola was credited with his first goal of the season despite the deflection, and RSL maintained the lead until halftime.

"We were up for it. I think we've identified that most of our good play comes from our defending," said Kreis.