Mikey Varas lamented San Diego FC's inability to close out a gap as they played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with FC Cincinnati in MLS.

San Diego thought they had snatched a second straight league win when they scored in the 96th minute, but Tom Barlow's equaliser just over 90 seconds later instead salvaged a point for the visitors.

It was a topsy-turvy game, in which Cincinnati twice squandered a lead; Kenji Mboma Dem opened the scoring after 11 minutes, only for Marcus Ingvartsen to cancel it out shortly after the half-hour mark.

Barlow got his first five minutes into the second half before Amahl Pellegrino pegged Cincinnati back once more, and Ingvartsen completed his brace in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time to give San Diego the lead for the first time.

But Barlow was in the right place to poke in Cincinnati's third and ensure the first meeting between the two clubs ended level.

"I think overall, we made a lot of really good plays in the game, and we played more or less a game that you would feel pretty good about winning," Varas said in his post-match press conference.

"But unfortunately, we just didn't make enough plays.

"Ultimately, proud of the group, because they turned the result around. Kind of against the run of play where they got ahead of us two different times.

"We've got to close games better, because it's now too many games where we left points on the table. We have to be upset about that, and we have to make sure that we mature from it."

Elsewhere, Western Conference leaders Vancouver Whitecaps suffered a shock 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo, with Guilherme snatching all three points in the 96th minute.

San Jose Earthquakes failed to take advantage of that result, however, as they were also undone by a stoppage-time goal in their 3-2 loss to FC Dallas.

The 'Quakes twice came from behind to level, only for Sam Sarver to strike the final blow in the 93rd minute.

Real Salt Lake did move up the West table, though, coming from behind to beat Colorado Rapids 2-1 in the Rocky Mountain Cup thanks to Sergi Solans.