Drew Moor scored in the 25th minute to lead the Colorado Rapids to a 1-0 victory over FC Dallas on Saturday night.
Moor scored for the second time in two games on a header and goalkeeper Matt Pickens got his seventh shutout as Colorado (11-9-12) ended a five game winless streak.
Colorado pulled one point behind Dallas for fourth place in the Western Conference, winning at home for the first time since beating Columbus on Aug. 5.
''This win covers a lot of ground. We win at home which was a long time coming,'' Colorado coach Gary Smith said. ''To beat Dallas means we go that much closer to them.
''It puts some more pressure on them. We're going to try and chase them down.''
FC Dallas (13-11-7) lost it's fourth straight, all by shutouts - extending its scoreless streak to 360 minutes, four shy of the franchise mark set in 2003.
''I think a lot of it is the ball hasn't bounced right,'' said Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman. ''Perkins had some some nice saves. He knocked out the ball late in the first half and we had two clean cut chances in the second half.''
Before Moor's goal, Colorado had several shots go wide of both posts. Kouke Kimura broke free and sailed a shot over the crossbar in the 6th minute. FC Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman had to flick away Sanna Nyassi's from 25 yards out in the 23rd.
Hartman couldn't stop Moor's header from in front of the crease off a corner kick by Nyassi. Moor said he used a pick from teammate Jeff Larentowicz on Andrew Jacobson to get open.
''He's a big guy and I knew I wasn't going to win any strength battles with him,'' said Moor. ''I got enough room to get away a shot and it went in.''
The shot came at a price.
''Our heads met just as I headed the ball,'' Moor said. ''I didn't hear anything for five minutes. It was a hard hit.''
Pickens had to make a diving save of a shot by Marvin Chavez in the 40th minute and he batted aside Ricardo Villar's low shot in the 42nd.
Pablo Mastroeni was stopped by Hartman in the 51st and Nyassi missed a wide-open net in the 52nd.
FC Dallas had its first scoring chance of the second half in the 61st minute as Shea's header was blocked by Pickens.
Colorado defender Miguel Cumminges received a red card and was ejected in the 74th minute after upending Zach Loyd at midfield. Dallas could not capitalize on the advantage the rest of the way.
Loyd kicked the ball over the crossbar in the 90th minute with Pickens out of position to make the save.
''This was an extremely important game for them,'' Hyndman said. ''I tried to let our players know that it was just as important for us.''
