Thu Sep 4 22:50:29 2008

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Petke winner gives Rapids first road win since April

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Frisco, TX (Sports Network) - Mike Petke scored his first goal of the season as the Colorado Rapids topped FC Dallas, 1-0, for their first win in Dallas since 2001 in Major League Soccer action on Thursday.

The win - which propels the Rapids from last in the Western Conference table to a third-place tie with Chivas USA ahead of the weekend fixtures - is the first for Colorado on the road since a 1-0 victory at New England on April 12.

The first real opportunity in the game didn't occur until just before the half-hour mark when Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala robbed Rapids forward Tom McManus by deflecting his header over the crossbar. McManus got the opportunity on a corner kick taken by Terry Cooke.

The first legit chance for the Hoops happened in the 31st minute when Kenny Cooper blasted a shot on goal from 30 yards that Rapids goalkeeper Preston Burpo had trouble with. Burpo got in front of the shot, but gave up a juicy rebound that he smothered just before Jeff Cunningham could pounce on it.

The best chance of the half was also created by Cooper, when he fed a through- ball to Cunningham breaking into the Rapids' penalty area. Cunningham took a touch around an onrushing Burpo and fired at the open net, but his shot went off the crossbar and out-of-bounds.

The Rapids went up 1-0 at the hour mark when Petke headed in a corner kick into the near-post side netting after being left wide open at the back post. terry Cooke got the assist on the play, his eighth of the season.

Drew Moor missed a wide-open diving header in the 80th minute after a short corner from Dallas and the Hoops weren't able to get any other high-quality chances the rest of the way.

Dallas (6-9-8) is now third-from-the-bottom in the Western table, just one point up on San Jose and Los Angeles, which each have a game in hand. The Hoops will aim to get back into the playoff race when they play at D.C. United on Sept. 13 while Colorado (8-12-3) hosts Chicago a day later in its next league fixture.