By CALEB SONNELAND

After having its home unbeaten run ended the week before by Seattle, Real Salt Lake recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps after goals Jean Alexandre and Fabian Espindola claimed all three points for the home side.  

Alexandre put in a Man of the Match performance after turning from goal-scorer to provider for both goals on either side of the halftime whistle.

On 32 minutes, the Haitian received the ball from Kyle Beckerman before working his way past two Whitecaps defenders and slotting the ball away cooly past Joe Cannon into the side netting of the far post. 

Espindola doubled the advantage with 11 minutes remaining to wrap up the result and keep Vancouver bottom of the Western Conference.  The goal came after Alexandre cleverly won the ball in midfield and split the Whitecaps defense for Espindola to tuck away for his second goal of the season.

Despite outshooting the visitors 24-7, Vancouver began to test RSL keeper Nick Rimando, who had to be alert on a handful of occasions late in the game to deny the visitors a place on the scoreboard. 

The match was the second in charge for the Whitecaps new head coach Tom Soehn, after slugging out a 1-1 draw with Chivas USA in Los Angeles on his managerial debut.  

Soehn was unable to field his DP Eric Hassli after the big Frenchman received his third red card of the season against Chivas.  Camilo Sanvezzo was given the nod up top but failed to make an impact in a match where Vancouver only enjoyed 38% of possession.

Vancouver next travels to Qwest Field to tackle the Seattle Sounders in a Cascadia Derby match, while Salt Lake makes the trip out to Crew Stadium to face Columbus in a midweek game on Wednesday.

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What did you think of the match?  Was Alexandre your Man of the Match?  What does the result mean for both teams?

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