Salt Lake City, UT -- (Sports Network) - The Houston Dynamo travel to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake for a Major League Soccer fixture on Thursday night with second place in the Western Conference on the line. Both clubs have 19 points after 15 league fixtures this season.

Earning their first victory in more than a month will be a tough task for the two-time defending champs as RSL (5-6-4) is one of just two MLS teams that are unbeaten at home. At 4-0-4 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Real has turned its home stadium into a fortress this season.

The Salt Lake City club is coming off a 1-0 road loss at Kansas City - which is in last place in the East - that snapped a franchise record five-game unbeaten streak, and it will be looking to bounce back at home Thursday.

"It's hard for us to feel satisfied," RSL coach Jason Kreis said. "This is another game where you have to feel like you dropped a point. If we're a little more focused for the last couple of minutes, we pick up a point. That's happened too often to us this year."

Houston (4-4-7) is on a three-game winless streak of its own and will be looking to get the important road victory to position itself in the second spot in the conference.

The Dynamo are coming off a 1-1 draw with Texas rival FC Dallas in which a late Kenny Cooper goal earned a draw for the Hoops.

"The game is a sour point for us," Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said. "I thought we had more than enough chances in the first few minutes to possibly put the game out of reach. We were in good situations and had good chances. To get a tie out of it, we are not happy. The guys are disappointed, as we should be. At the halfway point [of the season], I don't think we are getting as many points as we want or need."

For the Dynamo to get back on track they are going to have to correct their defensive woes. After allowing a league-record 23 goals all of last season, the club has allowed 19 halfway through the 2008 campaign already.

"You look at our team and what has made us successful the past couple of years, it's defense," Houston forward Brian Ching said. "We have been one of the best defensive, if not the best, defensive team in the league. But now we've got guys letting in mistakes. They are making big mistakes and costing us games. It's the same guys costing us 3-4 games, so it's disappointing."

It's not like the Dynamo are losing a ton of games - they are tied with a league-low four losses - but they also aren't winning a lot of games - they lead the league with seven draws.

"We are making mistakes and we aren't punishing teams for theirs," Kinnear said. "We have seven ties, and we have come out with more points that we have lost, but that is the reality of our situation. But it's important for us to start winning games."

To do so, the Dynamo must break through RSL's seemingly impenetrable fortress.