TORONTO — Darlington Nagbe scored in the 82nd minute Wednesday, giving the Portland Timbers a 2-2 tie on the road against Toronto FC.
Nagbe headed home a cross from Steven Smith past Milos Kocic to cancel out second-half goals from Toronto strikers Luis Silva and Eric Hassli.
Silva gave Toronto the lead in the 63rd minute after some great work down the left side from Astone Morgan. The defender sent a cross in that was flicked on by Hassli and buried by Silva from in tight. It went past goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, making his Portland debut following a trade from Montreal.
Portland’s Sal Zizzo put the Timbers up 1-0 in the 21st minute. After David Horst’s header following a corner was cleared off the line by a Toronto defender, Zizzo pounced on the loose ball from a yard out for his first goal of the season.
Hassli, making his first appearance at BMO Field since being acquired from Vancouver last month, tied the score in the 57th minute on a rebound off a shot from Silva.
Hassli was mobbed by his teammates before running to the sidelines to hug Toronto coach Paul Mariner.
Toronto (5-13-5) still sits last in the overall standings, one point back of Portland (5-12-6).
The Timbers nearly doubled their first-half lead in the 50th minute when Zizzo’s free kick from the left flashed just wide of Kocic’s goal.
Ricketts then saved Harden’s looping header in the 55th minute as Toronto tried to push more players forward looking for the equalizer.
Chris Boyd found himself in alone on Kocic in the 70th minute, but the Toronto goalkeeper came up with a big save.
Hassli had the Reds’ best chance of the first half. The Frenchman took a flick on from Silva, fought off two defenders before getting a shot that seemed to fool Ricketts, who could only push the ball on top of his net.
