Arturo Alvarez scored in the 86th minute to lift FC Dallas to a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.

FC Dallas (14-8-3) now holds a nine-point lead over second-place Houston (9-8-9) in the Western Conference.

Alvarez took a pass from Abe Thompson and dribbled past Dynamo defender Adrian Serioux, a Toronto native, before firing a shot into the left corner of the net from about 10 yards away for his second goal of the season. Alvarez entered the game in the 64th minute as a substitute for Ramon Nunez.

Houston was forced to play much of the game a man down after Eddie Robinson received a red card in the 31st minute for violent conduct. Robinson received the red card after he hit FC Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz in the head while the two were attempting to play a long-ball in mid-air. Robinson had received a caution just seconds earlier in the 30th minute that also involved Ruiz.

Houston's Dwayne De Rosario, a native of Toronto, almost tied the game in the 92nd minute on a bicycle kick from inside the penalty box, but his shot drifted just wide left of the post.

FC Dallas' Kenny Cooper almost scored in the closing seconds of the first half after he curled a free kick over a wall of Dynamo defenders, but Houston goalie Pat Onstad, of Vancouver, made a leaping two-handed save to prevent a score.

Onstad finished the game with four saves and FC goalie Dario Sala posted three saves for his fifth shutout of the year.

FC Dallas played without three of their starting defenders. Bobby Rhine and Drew Moor each missed the game with yellow-card suspensions and Clarence Goodson was a last-minute scratch due to food poisoning. Houston is still without leading scorer Brian Ching, who missed his fourth straight game with a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee.

FC Dallas will be without Ruiz for their next game against Chivas USA on Sept. 9 after Ruiz received his sixth yellow card of the season for a reckless foul in the 65th minute, resulting in an automatic one-game suspension.