Late penalty kick gives Minnesota United 3-2 victory over FC Dallas

The temperature dropped 60 degrees since the last time the two teams played while wind gusted and rain fell Wednesday, and it still didn't stop Minnesota United's 3-2 victory over FC Dallas from turning hot and contentious.

The day's high when the Loons lost 3-1 in Frisco, Texas, 11 days earlier was 106 degrees. On Wednesday, the thermometer read 46 degrees when both arrived at Allianz Field and tempers flared late in the game.

Still, the Loons hung on to win consecutive regular-season games for the first time since the season's opening two weeks in March. They did so by beating FC Dallas in a game Loons veteran midfielder Jan Gregus called "revenge from the start."

When the shoving stopped late in the game and the referee tucked away his red card, the Loons also, if perhaps only briefly, had tied Sporting Kansas City for the Western Conference lead.

Afterward, Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath said he'd be pleased if his team had taken four points from Allianz Field games Sunday against Real Salt Lake and Wednesday. He's not complaining about taking home six instead after Kevin Molino scored twice and Mason Toye once.

"To come out with six and only briefly sit atop the league tonight, that's a nice feeling," Heath said.

Heath called his team's opening 35 minutes, when it took a 2-0 lead in the first 82 minutes, "excellent" and he alternately termed the first half's final 10 minutes "madness." The Loons twice surrendered two-goal leads but still persevered, even after defender Romain Metanire received a red card for a sliding tackle in the 82nd minute and his team finished with only 10 men after he was ejected.

"Just stay compact [defensively] and don't do stupid mistakes," Gregus said. "That was most important. We needed to separate Jose because we didn't want another red card."

FC Dallas pressured late in the game but never scored the equalizer after Loons newcomer Emanuel Reynoso contributed to his team's two early goals. He applied the pressure that forced a Dallas turnover 30 yards from its goal and Robin Lod quickly found hard-running Toye for the game's first goal after only 11 minutes.

Reynoso collected his second MLS assist in three games when he played his part in a pretty four-way combination play that Molino started and finished after Lod, Reynoso and Metanire all, too, moved the ball around with skill.

And then they allowed Ricardo Pepi's sliding goal across the goal mouth in the 42nd minute that Metanire defended but not well enough.

When Metanire was hauled down in the penalty area well after halftime, Molino converted the awarded penalty kick in the 70th minute. FC Dallas came back with a deflected corner-kick goal seven minutes later to make it 3-2.

Heath disagreed with Metanire's red card, calling the decision "a little bit harsh" and saying the team will ask MLS to review it.

"We'll ask the question," he said. "If it's not overturned, there's nothing we can do. If it is, I think common sense has prevailed."

The Loons played with five starters out injured if you include missing Tyler Miller and Ike Opara along with Luis Amarilla, Ozzie Alonso and Ethan Finlay. But they held on, winning in the cold, the wind and rain.

"I like this better, for sure," Gregus said. "The weather was fantastic today."