Sep 16, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; St. Louis City SC midfielder Njabulo Blom (6) plays the ball forward against Houston Dynamo FC during the first half at Shell Energy Stadium. Image: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

In a match which it looked like the Houston Dynamo were about to hand St. Louis City another road loss, Joao Klauss found the equalizer as the Dynamo and St. Louis City played to a 1-1 draw on Saturday at Shell Energy Stadium. Corey Baird opened the scoring for Houston in 42nd minute to give them a 1-0. St. Louis City’s had their moments in the opening half when Aziel Jackson’s shot from just outside the area, across the box, forced Steve Clark to make a diving stop. St. Louis played the game without forward Samuel Adeniran in Houston, who had scored five times in his last six games, because of a one-game suspension after receiving two yellow cards in last weekend’s 2-2 draw against the LA Galaxy.

St. Louis opportunity came when Klauss levelled the game at 1-1 in the 87th minute, off a rebound from Tomas Ostrak’s shot for his seventh goal of the season. St. Louis remains on top of the Western Conference with a record (15-10-4, 49 points) and improved to 4-4-3 in road matches against Western Conference teams this season but a below .500 record of 5-7-3 overall away from home. The Western Conference leaders defeated Houston 3-0 on June 3 in the only other meeting between the two clubs this season. St. Louis is at home against entertains LAFC on Wednesday at CityPark.