By Niall McCusker

Portland came into this game looking to make it five wins a row and faced a Houston team that was missing several key players from their 3-1 win over the Timbers in Texas last month. Jermaine Taylor, Giles Barnes and Brad Davis were all absent for the visitors, so the game was set up perfectly for a comfortable home win.

But both this season and last the Timbers have made it a bad habit to drop points in games they are ‘supposed’ to win, particularly at home. However, even without playing especially well, they managed to get the result on this occasion – this is exactly what is required from teams that aspire to be contenders.

Houston set-up defensively, while the Timbers started well they were unable to really trouble Deric with any meaningful attempts. When they did find the breakthrough, it came, for the second game in a row, off a header from a free-kick. Set-piece conversion remains a vital component in the arsenal of any successful MLS team.

When things start going right for your team even the refereeing seems to fall into place – Houston will feel aggrieved on both the goal they had wiped off and the award of the penalty for Portland’s second goal. Both were definitely not calls you expect to go your way every week.

The visitors rallied after going two behind, Coyle’s substitutes, Lovejoy in particular, added life to their attack but they could not find a goal despite a tasty overhead kick off the bar from Clarke.

After a slow start this run of wins has catapulted the Timbers into third place, but only 9 points separates first place from ninth place in the West, so they need to ride this hot streak for a little longer to solidify a position among the contenders.

Here are the individual ratings:

Adam Larsen Kwarasey 6.5: The keeper right now is basically in the Timbers Army – he arrives at the stadium hours before kick-off, gets all dressed up but doesn’t get to play. He can thank the team’s defensive performances for that – the closest he came was a sharp advance from his line near the end to close down Beasley who had been released by Lovejoy’s excellent dummy. We will attribute Beasley’s shanked effort to the keeper.

Alvas Powell 8: Having endured a torrid time in Houston at the hands of Barnes, Giles and Beasley, Powell will have been happy to see only one of that triumvirate on the field this time. When Beasley got forward after twenty minutes Powell hammered him with a strong and fair tackle that seem sufficient to dampen the veteran’s attacking enthusiasm for the rest of the game.

Solid defensively, Powell also had an on-day with his crosses, he only hit 3 or 4 but they were all well measured. The ball he rolled along the line and sprinted past two defenders to catch up with was a great highlight – but the fact that the cross at the end of it was whipped in early and arrived in a dangerous position was even more encouraging.

Liam Ridgewell 7.5: The Englishman missed the excitement of the mid-week cup game in Seattle with a stomach virus, but looked fully recovered for this match. Will Bruin proved a much easier prospect to mark with no Giles Barnes making runs off him and no Davis to supply him with inch perfect passes over the top.

Norberto Paparatto 7.5: The coaching staff likely doesn’t look forward to crowded sections in the schedule but Paparatto probably loves them. After being partnered with Ridgewell for his first start of the season in a 1-0 win against DC United, which started this winning streak, he again showed he can slot in quite seamlessly.

The Argentine was solid in the air and came up with a few late blocks as Houston pushed up. If Borchers returns to the line-up in midweek against LA, Paparatto may get another chance in the derby game against Seattle next Sunday.

Jorge Villafana 8.5: A game winning assist from a crossed free-kick for the second game in a row and a busy day from open play too, attacking Houston’s right flank incessantly. Villafana must demand his share of the delivery job on set-pieces even after Valeri returns.

Earlier in the half he was involved in a collision in the box which lead to a Dynamo goal from a corner being disallowed – but was he fouled? My amateur lip reading has Clarke saying “he ran into me” to the referee – he seemed to have a point. The law states “being in the way of an opponent is not the same as moving into the way of an opponent”.

A little later in the half the left-back made one of many good runs into an attacking position and penetrated along the end-line until becoming entangled with Clarke, it looked a good shout for a penalty but the Houston players wanted Villafana booked for diving. Referee Toledo called nothing, but he may have filed the incident under the imaginary ‘half penalty rule’. When Paparatto was dragged back by Horst in the second half that ‘half penalty’ was likely in his mind as he blew the whistle. No referee will ever admit this, not even to themselves, but they do it all the time.

Diego Chara 7: Take another look at Chara’s long, diagonal pass into the corner for Powell in the twelfth minute, for a player better known for simple short passes, it is surprising how many times he makes the Timbers ‘pass of the game’. A solid performance from the Colombian and he maybe should have added a goal just before halftime when he turned-over possession, swapped passes with Fernandez, but took the ball wide when he might have shot first time.

Will Johnson 7: Are there some post-injury physiological or psychological issues contributing to the Canadian’s positional discipline in recent games? Probably not, it looks like the team is just managing patience and sticking with the game plan better than last season.

It was good team-first decision making to give Fernandez the penalty, goal-scorers are a needy bunch. But some might feel the taker should be designated pregame rather than letting the players decide on the field.

Midway through the second half Chara gave away a bad ball in his own half, Houston looked set to pounce. One crunching Johnson challenge later the ball was on the way down the field to earn the corner from which the Timbers would get their penalty. Job done.

Darlington Nagbe(off in 86′) 7: Opta might only show two assists on his season, but I’m giving him credit for earning the fouls that resulted in game winning set-pieces in the last two games. This article from the start of the year, points out that the Timbers only managed one goal from a crossed free-kick in all of last season, leaving teams free to play hack-a-Nagbe all game. Those bruises will feel a lot better and he may even end up with less of them if set-piece conversion becomes a true weapon for the Timbers.

Gaston Fernandez (off in 72′) 7.5: Four starts for “La Gata” – four wins for the Timbers, the doubters, and he has many, will say that correlation does not equal causation. However, even those who value attributes like hustle and muscle might be prepared to allow the experiment to continue at this point.

Fernandez was again central to the Timbers good start in this game, his easy one-touch passing brings the best out of Nagbe and Urruti and helped create space on the wings for the full-backs to exploit. Perhaps equally as important is his new found enthusiasm for defensive work – a sliding tackle after five minutes set the tone on that.

However, aside from the set-piece goals the attackers might be a little concerned that they did not work the visiting keeper a bit more.

Rodney Wallace 7: Traditionally the hard-working full-back makes the winger look good, but often when the left-side is clicking for Portland it is Wallace that does the grafting and Villafana that catches the eye. After a few sub-par performances saw him on the bench, the injury to Asprilla has given him a chance to show his worth – Portland’s midfield has some healthy competition for places at the moment.

Maximiliano Urruti (off on 76′) 8.5: Normally I just write ‘Maxi Urruti’, but this performance merits the use of his full and magnificent moniker. If Portland have the statistics that track distance covered in a game they do not publish them – they really should, it would be interesting to know the miles covered in this game by the hard-working forward.

He should have opened the scoring earlier in the first half after robbing Horst, but his first touch took him too wide instead of back across the defender’s line of recovery. Horst was made to mark guys like Adi and did so effectively last month in Texas, but he had a much harder time with Urruti in this game.

Urruti did not have to wait long, for a man who has never scored a header for Portland before, he guided Villafana’s delivery home expertly. This was a nice set-piece from Portland. Urruti and Fernandez stood in offside positions near-post before the delivery, then Wallace and Paparatto made far-post runs that dragged their defenders back with them. The near post strikers were now onside and their markers didn’t adjust quickly enough allowing Urruti a free jump. Whatever work they are currently doing on set-pieces, keep it up – in fact come back in the afternoons and do more.

Substitutes

Diego Valeri (on in 72′) 6: Houston had most of the ball during his time on the field, but he still found time to add to Horst’s bad night by making him look silly with a nice move on the right wing. The busy schedule will see him get ample minutes, he should start mid-week in LA, while still allowing the starters who have been playing well plenty of game time.

Fanendo Adi 5 (on in 76): No late game heroics needed from Adi this time as the game was already won. He might have done a bit more with a last minute cross from Valeri – but should get a chance to return to the starting line-up in Wednesday’s game in LA.

Taylor Peay (on in 86′): Not on long enough for a rating. Tactically this seemed a puzzling move, but the youngster will appreciate a few minutes for the first team.