By SBI SOCCER

FC Dallas’ young squad continued its impressive run on Saturday night, and its latest success came at the expense of an aging team seeing its playoff prospects fade fast.

New York City FC needed a positive result from its visit to Frisco, Texas, but after 43 scoreless minutes, NYCFC saw its hopes crushed by a pair of FC Dallas just before halftime. A valiant comeback attempt fell short though as FC Dallas held on for a 2-1 victory.

Brazilian midfielder Michel made the most of a rare start, setting up a goal and scoring his own on an Olimpico just before halftime to help FC Dallas climb into second place in the MLS Western Conference, at least temporarily.

The victory also pushed FCD nine points clear of playoff safety, and just one point behind Vancouver in the Supporters’ Shield standings.

The loss, NYCFC’s fourth in six matches, is a crippling blow for the expansion team, which remains in ninth place in the East and three points behind sixth-place Montreal, which has four games in hand.

NYCFC’s defense was enjoying modest success containing the FC Dallas attack in the first half, and looked ready to take a 0-0 score into halftime. Tesho Akindele spoiled the party though, opening the scoring with a blistering shot after collecting a Michel pass and beating Jason Hernandez to create space before blasting a shot past Josh Saunders.

Things only got worse for NYCFC in the final seconds before halftime when Michel struck a perfectly-paced corner kick that Saunders misread and watched zoom past him and straight into the net for the rare Olimpico.

The superstar trio of David Villa, Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard had little impact on the match, and all three were out of the match by the 65th minute, with Villa leaving at halftime due to a minor injury.

Kreis’ substitutes provided some energy, with Mix Diskerud, Kwadwo Poku and halftime sub Patrick Mullins testing the FC Dallas defense.

NYCFC finally found the net in the 70th minute when Mullins converted a penalty kick drawn by Ned Grabavoy. Atiba Harris was whistled for a raised arm into the face of Grabavoy inside the penalty area, and Mullins placed his penalty attempt well to make the score 2-1.

NYCFC pushed hard for an equalizer, but never could test young FC Dallas goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez in the match’s final moments.

FC Dallas returns to action on Friday, with a visit to Sporting Kansas City. New York City FC will have a pair of home matches to try and revive its playoff hopes, taking on Toronto FC on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.