Sitting atop Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference after six games, you’d think D.C. United would be satisfied with their recent run of form.

After all, they’ve played that opening sextet of games without a trio of key players: Finnish international Markus Halsti, starting center back and U.S. national team defender Steven Birnbaum, and offensive lynchpin Fabian Espindola. Starting forward Luis Silva also remains on the mend, his minutes limited while he recovers from a series of hamstring injuries.

But United’s group of savvy MLS vets and promising youngsters is not one that was ever built to make excuses, evident once again after United’s disappointing 1-1 draw to the Houston Dynamo on Saturday evening. Chris Rolfe’s first-half wonder-strike wasn’t enough for United, who—for the second week in a row—blew a lead in the second half and dropped crucial points at home.

HIGHLIGHTS:

The good: Andrew Dykstra and Chris Rolfe. Dykstra hadn’t played a competitive minute since allowing four goals in a disastrous Champions League affair in late February, and only got the nod on Saturday after regular keeper Bill Hamid was scratched late with a thigh ailment. Dykstra wasn’t just serviceable, he was phenomenal, making a trio of key saves to provide the result for United.

I asked the former Chicago Fire keeper whether that CCL performance in Costa Rica had weighed on him between now and then, and he didn’t seem particularly concerned: “I’m a goalkeeper,” said Dykstra. “I don’t even remember what I had for dinner last night.”

Chris Rolfe deserves much of the credit for United’s early-season performance, and his craftiness was once again on display against Houston. His 36th-minute strike, a venomous free kick from 22 or so yards out, will likely be a DCU goal of the year candidate. Take a look:

The bad: More dropped points at home. Though the 1-1 draw is far from an awful result, the mood in a hushed United locker room after the match was one of disappointment, not quite what you’d expect from a first-place outfit. Road points are hard to come by in MLS, and though Saturday’s draw marks the 15th consecutive game across all competitions that United have extracted at least a point from a home match, most home teams in MLS take the field expecting to win.

On Saturday, United seemed in control for stretches of the second half but were bossed at times by a typically physical Houston side. After last weekend’s disappointment—United blew a two-goal halftime lead to draw archrival New York at RFK—Saturday’s result didn’t sit well with Ben Olsen’s crew.

They Said It:

Ben Olsen, D.C. United head coach: “Yeah, [we’re] certainly disappointed with not getting all three [points]. The other side of that, I’m happy to get one. They had their chances and we had ours. It just seems like we’re not taking our chances to kill off teams. If you let teams hang around in this League, or any league, teams will find ways to get results.

Bobby Boswell, captain: “I think if you hear the guys around the locker room, we feel like the last two games were losses. We feel like we should have five wins and I just hope that does not come back later down the line. Points are at a premium in this league and it does not matter how you get them at the end of the year, it just matters that you have them. We feel like at home we should take three points away.”

Andrew Dykstra, ‘keeper: “I’m a goalkeeper so I don’t even remember what I had for dinner last night. You just have to put things behind you and I knew I was better than that and the team knew it too. I was out for eight months and had two weeks of training, but things happen. In terms of coming back, this is great for me. Just like forwards, it is about having confidence that drives you.”

The Rest:13,046: attendance at RFK stadium on a beautiful spring evening. Let’s hope that number goes up as the season marches on … Olsen said after the match that he doesn’t anticipate Hamid’s injury—which the club described as a ‘thigh contusion’ will keep him out this coming weekend … After finishing his six-game suspension—issued for making contact with an official after a match last year—Fabian Espindola will return to the pitch for United on Saturday evening when D.C. take on the Vancouver Whitecaps. How Olsen will integrate him remains to be seen; Espindola has been training regularly with United but hasn’t gone 90 minutes in quite a while.