Atlanta hands Timbers fourth straight loss

ATLANTA
– Machel Millwood scored a goal and tallied an assist as the Atlanta Silverbacks shut out the Portland Timbers 4-0 Saturday night at RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium.




The Silverbacks (7-4-3, 24pts) extended their home unbeaten streak to seven games since playing their first game at the newly built RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium.




The Timbers (5-8-5, 20pts) have lost their last four USL First Division matches. The four goals allowed also marks their widest margin of defeat this season.




The Silverbacks jumped to an early lead with a goal in the 23rd minute, as Millwood took the ball near midfield and blasted a shot at Timbers goalkeeper Josh Saunders. Saunders got his hands on the ball, but was unable to control it. Warren Ukah collected it and buried his shot into the corner of the net.




The Timbers had a chance to level the score in the 33rd minute, as defender Mike Randolph brought the ball up field and sent a strong strike toward the goal, but it sailed over the crossbar.




Millwood added to the Atlanta lead during stoppage time of the first half. He collected the ball near midfield after the Silverbacks cleared out a Timbers corner kick. He beat the Timbers defense downfield, and launched a shot from 20 yards that Saunders was unable to save to put the Silverbacks up 2-0.




Omar Jarun continued the scoring for the Silverbacks with a header past Saunders in the 60th minute. The ball was partially cleared after a corner kick, but it bounced toward the far post where Jarun headed it home to give Atlanta a comfortable 3-0 lead.




Substitute Adilson de Lima capped the scoring in the 84th minute with a header off of a corner kick from David Hayes that sailed inside the penalty box.




Up next, the Timbers head home to face the Seattle Sounders on Friday, July 21 at PGE Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.




HEAD COACH CHRIS AGNELLO ON THE MATCH:


“Tonight’s performance was obviously the result of three games in four days, and very tired legs and minds. As a result, we had a result that didn’t go our way. It’s a situation where we’ve missed some personnel and the guys covering have had to play a lot of games. But we’ll be getting some injured players back into the lineup soon, and they can help give some guys a rest who have been out there fighting hard. We saw some new pieces to the team this week that will help us down the road as well.”




NOTES:
Timbers player/coach Gavin Wilkinson eclipsed the 10,000-minute mark for his career with the Timbers. He joins Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar and Brian Winters as the only USL Timbers to accomplish the feat … the Timbers made their first appearance at Atlanta’s new 3,000 seat stadium, which opened on June 3 … the Timbers haven’t won a league match since June 15 at Minnesota.




SCORING SUMMARY:
ATL: Ukah 23’ (Millwood), Millwood 45’ (Rios), Jarun 57’ (Buete), DeLima 84’ (Hayes).




MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
POR: Morrison YC (30’), S. Bullen YC (83’); ATL: Millwood YC (18’), Hayes YC (44’).




LINEUPS:
PORTLAND (5-8-5): J. Saunders GK, M. Randolph (Brown 64’) S. Thompson D, S. Bullen D, L. Morrison D, T. Poltl D (Wilkinson 45’), B. Alvarez (Chisoni 45’) O. Bullen M, H. Alcaraz-Cuellar, L. Kreamalmeyer F, A. Gutierrez F (McCathy 45’). ATLANTA (7-4-3): F. Qunitero GK, J. Afful D, M. Bobo D, O. Jarun D (DeLima 68’), D. Hayes D, J. McLaughlin M, T. McManus M (De La Torre 63’), R. Rios M (Pineda-Chacon 74’), S. Buete M (Rojas 81’), W. Ukah F (Dawkins 59’), M. Millwood F.