Real Salt Lake have missed the opportunity to close the gap on the Seattle Sounders at the top of the Western Conference following a 1-1 draw with New York Red Bulls at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The deadlock was broken in the 18th minute when Joao Plata found the bottom corner with a curled effort after the Red Bulls had twice missed the opportunity to clear a corner.

Ambroise Oyongo wasted a great chance to level the scores late in the first half after forcing his way into the box, but the midfielder was unable to find the target from a tight angle.

New York piled the pressure on from the restart, with their reward eventually arriving in the 57th minute as Thierry Henry met Tim Cahill's pass with a controlled effort from 25 yards to leave Nick Rimando helpless in the Salt Lake goal.

Olmes Garcia should have restored Salt Lake's advantage just moments later, but he could only head Plata's inviting delivery wide of the target from close range.

The Red Bulls almost snatched the win late on when Roy Miller's cross found Henry, who watched his strike drift just over the crossbar as Salt Lake secured a point.