PORTLAND — Driven by desperation, the Portland Timbers scored more goals than they had in a game this season on Sunday, weathered some second-half uncertainty, and beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 4-2 at Providence Park.
The intense Cascadia clash was about as vital as a May match can be for the Timbers, who had four different players score in halting a three-game losing streak. Portland improved to 4-6-3, its 15 points putting it eighth in the Western Conference. Vancouver (6-6-2) remains third in the West.
“Just making sure we win the game no matter what,” said Timbers captain Liam Ridgewell of the mindset as Portland fought to maintain a second-half lead.
The scoring included two penalty kicks converted for fouls called against former Timber Pa Modou Kah. It included a well-placed conversion from Jack McInerney and a scintillating free kick off the foot of Darlington Nagbe.
The scoring started early as Kah fouled McInerney right on the boundary of the penalty area and Diego Valeri converted the penalty kick to put the Timbers up 1-0 in the fourth minute of play.
The lead was 2-0 at halftime as McInerney — starting for the injured Fanendo Adi — converted from just inside the penalty area in the 29th minute. Ben Zemanski and Lucas Melano got assists on the play, but it was McInerney who rolled a perfect shot inside the post after a misstep by Whitecaps defender Kendall Waston.
That the lead was only 2-0 at intermission was slightly disappointing for the Timbers, who had a few chances to add to the advantage.
Then Vancouver’s Kekuta Manneh scored less than four minutes after halftime to ratchet up the pressure on the home team.
The one-goal margin energized a Vancouver team that brought a three-game winning streak to Portland. In a season where the Timbers have wasted second-half leads, the Timbers and their fans were anything but comfortable.
“That was tough,” Timbers defender Nat Borchers said. “But this game, this league, it’s so much more than just playing. Sometimes you have to battle, you have to grind and you have to come together and make plays. That’s what we did. We made a lot of big plays today.”
Character was a word used by Timbers defenders to explain how they stood their ground under the pressure of the situation.
“When an opponent’s coming at you pretty hard, you’ve just got to stick together as a group and fight, and that’s what we did tonight,” said Jermaine Taylor, who played left back for a second game in a row.
A second mistake from Kah allowed the Timbers some cushion. Valeri sent a chip across the goal mouth that caught Kah on his right arm. In a move to boost the confidence of Dairon Asprilla, Valeri let the Colombian take the penalty. Asprilla, who has recently been out of favor with coach Caleb Porter but came on as a 62nd-minute replacement for Lucas Melano, ripped his shot cleanly into the left-side netting before doing a back flip celebration.
When Nagbe — who was marvelous in the attacking third all afternoon — curled home a perfect 22-yard free kick in the 82nd minute, the Timbers were up 4-1.
The game’s third penalty call, this one for a Ridgewell tug, was converted by Pedro Morales in the 84th minute. That kept the intensity bubbling until after the final whistle, when Waston chopped down the dribbling Asprilla from behind to earn a red card.
Porter said Sunday’s win was deserved based on a second consecutive strong performance from his team — particularly in the first half.
“There’s a few things still to get better, no doubt,” Porter said. “We gave up another fluky goal and we all thought ‘Here we go again.’ ”
Getting through the next 15 minutes without allowing Vancouver to equalize could be a patch that helps stabilize the season, Porter said.
“The nice thing is we weathered that and we broke the pattern,” Porter said. “And that’s real key. Now moving forward we have that experience we have that confidence of managing games in the second half.”
