Real Salt Lake took back the lead in the Western Conference and the Supporters' Shield for the time being after a well-deserved 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders FC at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday afternoon. RSL was the beneficiary of an own goal by Sounders midfielder Osvaldo Alonso which turned out to be the winning goal coupled with a Joao Plata header just a few minutes earlier. Substitute Chad Barrett pulled one back for Seattle but it was too late.

It was apparent how much the home side wanted this victory from the opening whistle. They had two really good scoring chances in the first three minutes of the match from Plata and Luke Mulholland. Real Salt Lake caused havoc in the Seattle defensive third with their constant high pressure. On the other hand, Seattle was focusing on the defensive side for the first stretch of the game and for good reason; Real Salt Lake leads the league in goals during the first fifteen minutes of matches with 10 of their 36 goals coming in the opening quarter-hour.

Seattle accomplished their mission of getting to halftime with a level scoreline as the scoreboard read 0-0 at the break. They had not taken a shot on goal yet but they had also kept Real Salt Lake off the board despite only having 38.3 percent of the first half possession.

The breakthrough would come just eight minutes after the break though as the shortest man in Major League Soccer, Joao Plata, would score his second goal from a header in two games. The play started when Olmes Garcia drew a soft foul on Zach Scott, who was already on a yellow card. Luke Mulholland took the costless kick from a tight angle on the right side. The 5-foot-2 striker got in behind Lamar Neagle and beat him to the ball heading it past Stefan Frei to give RSL a 1-0 lead.

Real Salt Lake would double that lead four minutes later. Luis Gil found Mulholland making a darting run in the Seattle penalty area. Osvaldo Alonso lunged to tackle the ball away from the midfielder but instead poked the ball towards his own goal. The ball crossed the line just before Seattle defenders could get to it.

Chad Barrett would bring the Sounders back to within one in the 72nd minute after a Ping-Pong game broke out in the Real Salt Lake penalty area. It started with Clint Dempsey intercepting a poor clearance from the defense. He fired a point-blank shot at Nick Rimando which was blocked. The rebound fell to Andy Rose who rang his shot off the post before Barrett blasted home the ball.

Seattle does have two matches in hand on Real Salt Lake but those don't mean a thing if they cannot get the results that are needed. The Sounders return to the pitch mid-week for a home match with San Jose Earthquakes before a Sunday clash with the Portland Timbers at Providence Park. That match should be very interesting as Portland has a mid-week CONCACAF Champions League match which will see them play away to Alpha United of Guyana.

Real Salt Lake will return to the NBC Sports Network next Friday when they travel to Toyota Stadium for a date with FC Dallas. FC Dallas plays later on Saturday night against the San Jose Earthquakes, with a win they will pull within two points of the Sounders for second place in the Western Conference.