LOS ANGELES - Robbie Findley marked his return to Los Angeles by scoring a game-tying second half goal and veteran defender Eddie Pope pushed Real Salt Lake ahead for good four minutes later as RSL came from behind to defeat the last place Galaxy 2-1 at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night.

The goal by Pope, his first since May 15th, 2005 - also against the Galaxy - has propelled Real into their first winning streak of the season following a 3-1 home win at midweek over Kansas City.

Los Angeles started the game on the right foot, taking only six minutes to find the back of the net as Alan Gordon headed home a cross from Landon Donovan. Exploiting lax marking in the box, the Galaxy forward was given enough space to float his effort over keeper Nick Rimando to stake LA to an early lead.

With the home fans still celebrating, Alecko Eskandarian appeared to have pulled RSL even just two minutes later, but the assistant referee ruled the forward was in an offside position when he received the ball.

In the 18th minute, the Galaxy threatened to double their advantage when Chris Klein's cross found Edson Buddle with room to strike inside the box, but Rimando was up to the task, making a save on the short range blast.

Los Angeles pressed forward again in the 25th minute, with three quick shots blocked by traffic in front of the goal. With the ball finding its way to Gordon once more, the Oregon State product bested Rimando for a second time on the night, only to see the offside flag go up.

Backup Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin, getting the start for an injured Joe Cannon, made a spectacular save in first half stoppage time when Eskandarian drilled a bending free kick over the wall and toward the far upper corner of the net.

Lunging to his right, Cronin parried the ball out of danger, preserving the Galaxy's lead into halftime.

In the opening moments of the second half, Gordon was again in the middle of things as RSL defender Carey Talley was judged to have taken him down inside the box.

Referee Abbey Okulaja signaled to the spot and Donovan stepped up to take the penalty, bringing back memories of Wednesday's loss in the SuperLiga final. In the game's fifth round of penalties, Donovan was denied what would have been a game winner by Pachuca's Miguel Calero.

Donovan, normally automatic from the spot, rose from his ritual crouch in the 50th minute and blasted a shot to Rimando's right side, but it was not placed well enough as the RSL keeper denied redemption for the US international by making the save.

"I smashed it," a dejected Donovan told American Soccer Daily of the saved penalty. "It almost went behind (Rimando's) head, I think, when he saved it. I hit it the way I wanted, I hit it hard… he made a great save, give him credit."

Asked if he would be taking the Galaxy's next penalty kick, Donovan responded: "I'm gonna try to take it - I hope this doesn't mean that I never take penalties again. I made eight or nine in a row this year, so at some point you're gonna miss. It just sucks that these two games were the ones I missed."

Galaxy legend Cobi Jones, in his last professional season before retiring, came on in the 65th minute and would nearly change the scoreline immediately when he hit the crossbar a minute later with a twisting long range shot from the right side.

Coming on for Real as a second half substitute, Findley would make trouble for his old club in the 67th minute when he raced past rookie defender Mike Randolph and slotted the ball low past Cronin to level the game.

Three minutes later, Findley drew a key foul just outside the box, setting up Eskandarian for another free kick. This time around, Cronin got his gloves to the challenge. but the young keeper couldn't hang on the ball, spilling it in front of the goal where Eddie Pope was waiting to clean up the mess for his 10th career goal.

Relinquishing the lead in dramatic fashion by allowing two unanswered goals in four minutes, the Galaxy would be reduced to 10 men in the 77th minute when Troy Roberts saw yellow for the second time, leaving Los Angeles little hope for a comeback.

What little hope the team held for an equalizer disappeared 10 minutes from full-time when another Gordon header was denied by the iron.

The loss leaves LA with almost no shot at making the playoffs, stuck at the bottom of the league standings with 14 points through 19 games.

Real Salt Lake, worse off than the Galaxy a week ago, suddenly has found new life after picking up two wins in four days, leaving them trailing Columbus and Colorado by nine points for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Following the game, Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop told reporters, "I'm devastated with losing. We had a great first half. I felt we should've scored more than one goal. We had great chances to finish the game and we didn't."

When questioned about the future of the club, specifically rumors of Yallop's departure, Donovan said, "Let's hope our fans are smart enough to realize what's going on. I think it'd be ignorant of people to put any blame on Frank. We would run through the f***ing wall for that guy, all of us."

"We had one meeting with Alexi (Lalas) and Tim Leiweke, and they both said 'we have the best coach in the league; the coach isn't going anywhere'. They get it. They're not stupid, they see it all."

Scoring
LA - Alan Gordon 1 (Landon Donovan, Peter Vagenas) 6'
RSL - Robbie Findley 6 (Andy Williams) 67'
RSL - Eddie Pope 1 71'

Line-ups
RSL - Nick Rimando; Carey Talley, Kyle Beckerman, Ritchie Kotschau, Chris Brown (Robbie Findley 58'), Fabian Espindola (Chris Wingert 75'), Javier Morales (Andy Williams 63'), Alecko Eskandarian, Eddie Pope, Jean-Martial Kipre, Matias Mantilla

LA - Steve Cronin; Mike Randolph, Kevin Harmse, Chris Klein, Peter Vagenas (Gavin Glinton 88'), Landon Donovan, Troy Roberts, Edson Buddle (Carlos Pavon 70'), Abel Xavier, Kyle Martino (Cobi Jones 65'), Alan Gordon