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Final Score: Chicago 1 - Houston 2

Houston, TX (Sports Network) - The Houston Dynamo pushed their lead over Real Salt Lake back to five points in Major League Soccer Western Conference table after week 23 with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire on Sunday at Robertson Stadium.

Dwayne De Rosario and Brian Mullan scored first half goals after the Fire's Brian McBride opened the scoring to provide all the offense in the game.

With the win, Houston looks like the favorite to win the Western Conference regular season crown with a comfortable lead with just eight games to go. Chicago, on the other hand, missed a golden opportunity to grab a share of second in the East. Chicago is currently five points back of leaders Columbus and three back of New England.

The game started with both teams making defensive mistakes early.

The Fire got the first goal when a defensive turnover by the Dynamo led to a Cuauhtemoc Blanco cross to McBride in the box. McBride made no mistake on the chance, scoring his first goal of the season and first as a member of the Chicago Fire in just his second start with the team.

But less than a minute later the Dynamo were able to equalize when De Rosario snuck in behind the defense completely unmarked on a set piece taken by Brad Davis. De Rosario collected the ball and easily slotted the shot past Fire goalkeeper John Busch, who had no chance on the play.

That was how the score stayed, despite numerous chances for the Dynamo, until the 39th minute when Houston's Mullan scored the game winner.

Another defensive lapse by the Fire led to the goal when Nate Jaqua fired a square pass to Davis who slotted a square pass to Mullan at the top of the Fire penalty area. He got open on the right side after some dreadful defending by the Fire and fired a shot to the far post past Busch to make it 2-1.

That was how the score stayed as both teams tightened up and flexed their trademark defensive muscles in the second half.

The Dynamo (9-5-8) will aim to widen the gap in the West when they host Kansas City next Sunday while the Fire (10-7-5) will look to gain on the East leaders when they host the New York Red Bulls a day earlier.