Ricardo Clark scored in the 53rd minute to lift the Houston Dynamo to a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.
The Dynamo (11-10-7) snapped a four-game winless streak and moved past Union (10-10-9) in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
''It was huge for us,'' said Houston's Brad Davis, who got his team-leading seventh assist on the score. ''Things haven't been going the way we've wanted them to lately. It may not have been pretty, but everyone put everything they had into this game tonight. It's important for us to get three points and jump up in the standings.''
Clark flicked a header off a free kick from Davis for his third goal of the season. Tally Hall got his seventh shutout of the season without having to make a save.
''We got a set piece and fortunately I was able to put a good ball in,'' Davis said. ''Guys made good runs to get on the end of it. Sometimes on the road you just get a couple opportunities and we were able to score that one. It feels good.''
Philadelphia extended its winless streak to five matches, scoring just once in that stretch.
''We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and get back to work,'' said Union defender Amobi Okugo, who returned from serving a two-game suspension. ''We have five games remaining and anything can happen. I think we need at least three wins to even have a remote chance.''
The Union had a goal nullified in the 30th minute when Okugo was called for being offsides.
''It's a cruel game sometimes,'' Union manager John Hackworth said. ''We can't catch a break. That's not the reason that we're sitting here feeling the way we are, but sometimes you need the ball to bounce your way a bit and not have outside factors take goals away.''
Philadelphia leading scorer Jack McInerney entered as a substitute for Danny Cruz in the 61st minute but went scoreless for his 12th consecutive game.
Dynamo manager Dominic Kinnear and midfielder Boniek Garcia both missed the game while serving suspensions.
