A beautiful evening, but an ugly result. First year D-2 club Crystal Palace Baltimore earned their first ever franchise victory, stunning the Portland Timbers and the 8,817 in attendance with a 1-0 win at PGE Park last night. Returning from a 14 day lay-off from league action, the Timbers came out flat and their lackluster play would cost them. In the 29th minute off a throw-in deep in the Timber's territory, Baltimore midfielder Pat Healy would send a low line-drive cross through the box towards teammate Yakil Perez, who would quickly re-direct the ball off his head past keeper Steve Cronin for the score."It's tough, that ball was going on frame, going towards the far post, and then a guy cuts across last second and gets a header on it to go near post." Said Cronin. "It's almost impossible to react to."
The 1st half was simply a shame. Although Portland controlled possession, they failed to create consistent opportunities, playing hesitantly, and not applying any real pressure on Baltimore's defense. Play was sloppy and mistakes were made. On several occasions Baltimore was able to counter-attack quickly, slipping past Portland's backline to make deep runs into the final third.
Said Cronin, "(The goal) was indicative of the whole 1st half. We gave a couple guys too much time wide, we let them get a service in from a real dangerous area right on the corner of our eighteen, and then (Healy) just put in a great ball."
"It was pathetic to be honest. The 1st half was not what we're about." said coach Gavin Wilkinson. "We've always modeled ourselves as being a hard working team, a team that'll work hard to wear the opponent down and create chances. In the 1st half we had lack of movement, lack of creativity, we had lack of players not taking responsibility. As a coaching staff as well, maybe we could of done a little more to change the game a little bit quicker, maybe the system, so it's a collective blame."
Thursday night was case where the hungry underdog was given confidence early, took advantage of their chances, and was able to do just enough to hold on until the end. The Timbers would be out shot 5-3 in the 1st half and had zero corners to Baltimore's 2. Portland would try to change the pace on the field, bringing in Alex Nimo and Tony McManus early in the 1st half, and making 5 total substitutions for the game.
"We tried to make changes," Said Coach Wilkinson. "And it wasn't necessarily those individuals (who came out), we just needed a little bit of bite. So we brought in Tony and Alex and they did very well, so I think the subs that were made helped the team. It's just that they shouldn't have been needed."
The 2nd half was a much different story. Portland would dominate the action, again controlling possession, but playing with more creativity and aggressiveness on offense. The Timbers would earn 8 corners, many coming in the closing minutes of the match, and would outshoot Baltimore 16-5 in the 2nd half and 19-10 overall for the game. Unfortunately, Portland's most threatening chances would all end up painfully close with many shots hitting the crossbar or stopped inches in front of the goal line.
Portland would turn up the pressure in the last 25 minutes, relentlessly pushing for a late game equalizer. A 7 minute stretch of attack for the Timbers began in the 73rd minute when midfielder and leading scorer Ryan Pore blasted a shot that was deflected out of the box for a corner. Shots by Alex Nimo, Mandjou Keita, George Josten, and Pore would soon follow, including 3 more corner chances and a couple more shots that would deflect off the woodwork. Fate didn't want to bend the Timber's way and the officials swallowed their whistles on several important calls, allowing a lot physical play inside the box all night. Although the team was able to overcome their early coma, certainly influenced by the long hiatus, it was still a story of too little too late. The Timbers refused to make excuses.
"Give Baltimore credit, you know they were coming off a good result against Vancouver and came down here with a little bit of confidence," Said Pore. "And we flat out weren't good enough tonight. We were unfortunate with a couple balls off the woodwork, but I think if you ask every guy here, we weren't good enough to deserve a result tonight."
"I don't like to chalk anything up to bad luck." said Cronin. "I mean it's tough going off for 2 week, especially after a big emotional win against Vancouver, you'd like to just roll into the next week and keep playing..... Hopefully this game sticks with us and we remember this feeling."
Added Pore, "I wouldn't blame the 2 weeks off for the full 90 minutes. I mean if you look at our performances throughout the year, we haven't put a full game together yet, so we're still searching for an answer, still trying to improve, still trying to gel as a unit, and hopefully it'll all come together fast."
One bright spot was the return of forward Mandjou Keita to the starting lineup, who had been kept out due to travel issues during his return from playing in the pro-league in India. Keita played well, creating opportunities for teammates and nearly scoring on several shots, including multiple headers that bounced off the crossbar.
"(Keita) did a nice job working his way back into the game." said Wilkinson about Keita's performance . "He was creative and he was effective."
Still, a disappointing night as Portland not only drops their first game of the season, but also loses at home, something they didn't do all year last season. The Timber's record now stands at 3-1-1 and they are tied for second with 10pts, trailing league leader Rochester by 1. Portland will have to put this loss behind them quickly as AC St. Louis comes back into town on Saturday for a game at PGE Park 7pm. The Timbers already have a 2-0 victory over St. Louis when the teams met at PGE on April 22nd.
"One of our goals was to never get beat at home and its already happened and we're only 5 games in," said Pore. "So that's a little disappointing, but luckily for us we that game on Saturday, so we can get right back at it and try to make amends for tonight."
- Full Box Score -
*Photo provided by Alison @ Timber Mill
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