Timber tie Union, move closer to first in West

CHESTER, Pa. — The Portland Timbers continued their strong play on the road with a scoreless draw against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

The Timbers (8-2-10) improved to 2-1-8 on the road and moved within three points of Real Salt Lake for first place in the Western Conference.

Portland also pushed its all-time mark to 2-0-2 against the Union.

The game was delayed 40 minutes to open the second half because of severe thunder and lightning in the surrounding area.

Following the delay, neither team was able to muster many scoring opportunities. The Union (8-6-7) had two corner kicks in three minutes of stoppage time but couldn’t take advantage.

The Union played without manager John Hackworth, who was ejected from a victory over Chivas USA. Technical Director Rob Vartughian coached the Union.

TIMBERS 0, UNION 0

Portland 0 0–0

Philadelphia 0 0–0

First half–None.

Second half–None.

Goalies–Portland, Donovan Ricketts; Philadelphia, Zac MacMath.

Yellow Cards–Casey, Philadelphia, 43rd; Fernandes, Philadelphia, 76th.

Referee–Ricardo Salazar. Assistant Referees–Brian Poeschel. Kevin Klinger. 4th Official–Ted Unkel.

Lineups

Portland–Donovan Ricketts, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Michael Harrington, Pa-Modou Kah, Diego Chara (Ben Zemanski, 46th), Jack Jewsbury, Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe (Kalif Alhassan, 90th+), Will Johnson, Frederic Piquionne, Ryan Johnson (Jose Valencia, 76th).

Philadelphia–Zac MacMath, Jeff Parke, Sheanon Williams, Amobi Okugo, Raymon Gaddis, Brian Carroll, Michael Farfan (Leo Fernandes, 68th), Danny Cruz (Fabio Alves, 79th), Jack McInerney (Antoine Hoppenot, 82nd), Conor Casey, Sebastien Le Toux.