Owen Coyle watch.

For those who like to see him do well - played his first game of Houston Dynamo's a few hours back and won!

HOUSTON – It wasn’t a masterpiece but the Owen Coyle era got off on the right foot as fellow Brit Giles Barnes’ second half goal gave the Houston Dynamo a 1-0 win over the tough luck Columbus Crew SC.

Houston’s winner came from the type of play Coyle and company is hoping to see this season. Minutes after changing his jersey due to his head bleeding from a first half knock of heads; Kofi Sarkodie put some fancy foot work cutting past Waylon Francis down the right to set up Barnes. The 26-year-old Englishman was cutting across the box and swiveled to meet the ball lashed it high into the goal to give Houston a 1-0 66th minute lead.

The goal was one of the few attacking highlights on a night where Houston was defending much more than they likely planned too. Columbus was the aggressor, especially in the second half where they managed 16 shots and seemingly hit everything but the back of the net.


Full report and VIDEO (not available in the UK - unless you know how!) here -

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There's a funny story about Giles Barnes who got the winner - from a few years back -

It's a pity Cardiff City couldn't catch up with him on Saturday because it seems Derby's Giles Barnes needs taking down a peg or two.

The highly-rated 18-year-old apparently has a habit of saying 'Whoosh' as he runs past opposition defenders.

It's only a matter of time before some centre-half deposits him into row Z - probably no bad thing for the youngster's sense of his own importance.

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