Vancouver Whitecaps headed to Chivas hoping to mirror last year and claim their first away win of the season.
It was a different Chivas side, in many ways, from a year ago and a mixture of bad luck, poor marking and missed chances cost the Whitecaps dearly as they went down to a 2-1 defeat.
The home side had taken a deserved 2-0 lead before Vancouver fought back strongly, spurred on by the introductions of Kenny Miller and Erik Hurtado.
Miller's diving header gave the Whitecaps hope but in the end they came up just short, despite putting Chivas under a lot of pressure in the closing minutes of the match.
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Going in to the game, the only decision that Martin Rennie really faced was who would be in for Kenny Miller, who was deemed not ready for a start after being away on international duty.
That spot went to Camilo Sanvezzo, after the Brazilian had impressed in his substitute appearances this season, with rookie Erik Hurtado returning to the bench in the only change to last week's losing starting line up.
It was a fairly even start to the game, with Vancouver enjoying some good possession and Chivas showing early signs of their quick attack.
The Caps had the first real chance of the game nine minutes in, when Gershon Koffie dragged a shot wide right, when the ball broke to him on the edge of the box from a corner.
Two minutes later and the Caps were one down.
Carlos Alvarez got the ball wide left, cut inside and was fortunate to see his effort deflect off the shoulder of Jun Marques Davidson and into the net, with Joe Cannon wrongfooted.
It was the first goal that Chivas had scored in the first half of a game all season and they are unlikely to get another one as easily handed to them on a plate.
Although the Whitecaps tried.
The home side had a great chance to double their lead in the 21st minute following a Daigo Kobayashi giveaway. Tristan Bowen found Juan Agudelo in the box with a lovely chip forward that had Brad Rusin all at sea. Rusin recovered but Agudelo showed some neat footwork to slip the ball through the legs of Alain Rochat into the path of Eric Avila, but Cannon did well to reduce the angle and get his fingertips on it as the midfielder fired into the side netting.
Vancouver should have levelled two minutes later when Rochat's long range shot was parried by Dan Kennedy and the ball broke to Kobayashi right in front of him, but the Japanese playmaker blasted high and over from seven yards out.
The ball broke quickly to him and took a bounce, but the midfielder should at least be hitting the target from that range.
Chivas responded immediately and Avila fired a low long range shot inches past the left hand post.
The action continued apace and Kennedy fumbled a high Nigel Reo-Coker free kick into the box, but was fortunate that the bobbling rebound bounced straight back into his arms as he lay on the ground.
Vancouver tried to turn up the pressure and Camilo got his head on to a Kobayashi corner but couldn't direct his header goalbound.
And the Brazilian got another chance in the 35th minute when he curled a shot just past the right hand post from the edge of the box.
With five minutes of the half remaining, Bowen sent a dangerous ball across the face of the goal but just out of reach from the stretching substitute Jose Correa, who had come on for an injured Agudelo.
Vancouver must have gone in at the half disappointed to be behind in the manner that they were and they came out for the second half keen to try and get something going.
YP Lee hit a long range effort over three minutes in, but Chivas came so close to doubling their lead in the 50th minute, when Bowen hit an Avila cross just on the wrong side of the post.
Chivas weren't to be denied though and they got their second five minutes later when Avila beautifully volleyed home an Alvarez cross, after the Whitecaps defence allowed him to ghost in unmarked at the back of the box.
And some more sloppy defending nearly cost them further minutes later when Bowen easily dispossessed Davidson on the edge of the box but blasted fiercely over.
Vancouver tried to make things happen with a double substitution in the 57th minute, with both Kenny Miller and Erik Hurtado coming on.
Bowen forced Cannon into a strong stretching save in the 63rd minute, with another shot on goal, but the Caps went up the pitch and pulled one back.
Hurtado received the ball on the wing and ran at the Chivas defence before firing off a shot which Kennedy saved but the rebound came straight onto the diving head of Miller, who finished clinically.
Rennie's substitutions had the desired effect.
The goal and the changes gave Vancouver an added spring to their step and Miller was having another strong performance.
And the Scotsman set up a chance for Mattocks in the 80th minute but the striker's lob just went over the crossbar and landed on the top of the net.
Mattocks had another chance four minutes later when the ball broke to him inside the six yard box but he skyed his shot over.
As the game reached the final seconds of normal time, Miller perfectly played Kekuta Manneh through, but the rookie overhit his first touch, allowing Kennedy to come out and close down the angle and the Gambian hit his shot just under the Chivas goalie and wide of the post.
It was to be the Whitecaps last chance and Chivas withstood the final late push of pressure from the Caps to go undefeated in four.
The loss saw Vancouver slip to two and two for the season and importantly saw points dropped to Western Conference opposition.
Despite the danger posed by the speed of the Vancouver attack more missed chances, poor marking and a missing midfield cost the Caps points once again.
Those are three things which they will need to majorly work on if they hope to take anything from their trip to San Jose next weekend.
FINAL SCORE: Chivas USA 2 - 1 Vancouver Whitecaps
ATT: 8,354
CHIVAS USA: Dan Kennedy; Mario De Luna, Joaquin Velazquez, Bobby Burling; Eric Avila, Oswaldo Minda, Edgar Mejia, Jorge Villafana, Carlos Alvarez; Juan Agudelo (Jose Correa 34), Tristan Bowen (Daniel Antunez 69) [subs Not Used: Tim Melia, Steven Purdy, Carlos Borja, Marvin Iraheta, Giovani Casillas]
VANCOUVER: Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Brad Rusin, Andy O'Brien, Alain Rochat; Jun Marques Davidson (Kekuta Manneh 80), Nigel Reo-Coker, Gershon Koffie (Kenny Miller 57); Daigo Kobayashi, Camilo Sanvezzo (Erik Hurtado 57), Darren Mattocks [subs Note Used: Brad Knighton, Jordan Harvey, Matt Watson, Russell Teibert]
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