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Austin FC looks to build on their solid start to the season when they travel southeast to square off against the rebounding Houston Dynamo on Saturday in a Copa Tejas match in the Bayou City.

The Verde (5-3-1, 16 points) have been one of the surprise sides in MLS. Austin’s most recent outing was a 1-0 home win over the defending league champion LA Galaxy.

Brandon Vazquez scored in the 81st minute for Austin to produce the game’s lone goal and make amends for being stopped on a penalty kick in the 70th minute. Goalkeeper Brad Stuver stopped four shots to earn his league-leading fifth clean sheet of the season.

The Verde had to play the final four minutes of stoppage time a man down after Brendan Hines-Ike was sent off with a second yellow card for poor sportsmanship.

“For me, it was the most complete game that we’ve played so far at home,” Austin coach Nico Estevez said. “We’ve still got a lot to work on. So we’ve just got to keep stepping onto the pitch every single day in training, give 100 percent and make sure we keep improving.”

The Dynamo (1-4-4, 7 points) have struggled through their first eight games, while being outscored 14-8. Houston has a three-match unbeaten streak that included a win at home over Los Angeles FC before draws at the LA Galaxy on April 12 and at home against Colorado in their most recent outing on April 19.

Ondrej Lingr scored an equalizer in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time to allow Houston to split the points. It was the designated player’s initial match with his team upon being signed from SK Slavia Prague last month. Anime Bassi had the first goal of the contest for the Dynamo.

Houston coach Ben Olsen said Lingr provides just the offensive infusion his team needed.

“(Lingr) did exactly what he needed to do,” Olsen said “It’s nice to have a guy get on the end of something. I don’t think we’ve had that in a while. It’s one of the things we liked about him coming in. We needed someone to stretch the line and be a guy in the box who is fearless, that wants to get it. This will give us a dimension that we’ve needed.”

Austin captured two out of the three matchups between the teams last year, including one in Houston.

-Field Level Media