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Sandy • First place will have to wait.

The playoffs, too.

But the home unbeaten streak remains alive and well, and so does Real Salt Lake after it escaped with a dramatic 1-1 draw against the rival Colorado Rapids in front of 18,317 fans at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night.

"The way we all worked hard," forward Pablo Campos said, "we deserved to win."

Alas, not losing was good enough, on a night when coach Jason Kreis rested many of his first-choice starters amid their savage stretch of the schedule.

That appeared like a strategy that would backfire, after Colorado's Conor Casey scored in the 36th minute, and RSL for almost the next hour, just couldn't get any of its myriad chances to find the back of the net — even after bringing on forward Alvaro Saborio and midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Will Johnson late in the game.

But then defender Nat Borchers — the unlikeliest of heroes — rose up for a header off a sublime cross from teammate Andy Williams, just moments after RSL was controversially denied a penalty kick, and knocked home the tying goal in the dying moments of stoppage time to extend the team's regular-season home streak to 24 games and send the crowd into delirium.

"I just thought that ball was going to be a little out of my reach," Borchers said. "I just put a little extra effort, stretched my neck out and got on the end of it."

The draw kept RSL (13-4-9) from taking full advantage of the Los Angeles Galaxy's loss to New York on Friday night by pulling even in the Major League Soccer standings, and it kept them from clinching a spot in the playoffs.

But the playoffs are a certainty, at this point, and Kreis believes his team will still get another chance to surpass the Galaxy, even though only four games remain in the regular season.

"We gained a point on them this weekend," he said, "so now we're one result away from being ahead of them, and not on a tiebreaker."

Most importantly, the team can feel refreshed as it heads to its next CONCACAF Champions League game in Toronto on Tuesday night. A win or draw there will assure that it advances to the knockout rounds of the tournament.

"We're going to put all our cards on the table," he said.

All the cards were assuredly not on the table, against the Rapids (10-7-8).

Goalkeeper Nick Rimando, forward Robbie Findley and defender Robbie Russell joined Beckerman, Saborio and Johnson on the bench to start the game, and Borchers acknowledged that many people might have been skeptical of such a patchwork lineup.

But he agreed with Beckerman that RSL once again was able to prove the quality of its depth.

"We wanted to show the league we're a deep team," Beckerman said. "And if you're going to say that, then you have to do it. I thought we played really well tonight."

Especially near the end, when RSL started pressing hard for the equalizer in a tense game featuring just the kind of arguments, confrontations and bookings you would expect of a rivalry game.

The RSL equipment manager was even thrown off the bench.

After creating chance after chance in the final minutes, RSL appeared to have finally earned a crack at an equalizer in the 88th when referee Ramon Hernandez signaled a penalty kick for a Colorado handball in the box.

But after a series of arguments from both sides, Hernandez reversed his call, evidently ruling that there was no handball.

"Puzzling," said Kreis, who added that Hernandez, despite being a good referee, "just didn't have his best game."

Then again, neither did RSL.

But things still turned out all right.

mcl@sltrib.com Twitter: @RSLTribune —

RSL 1, Rapids 1

R IN SHORT • Goal in stoppage time gives Real Salt Lake a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids.

KEY MOMENT • Nat Borchers knocks home a header in stoppage time for his first goal of the season to give RSL the tie. draw.