PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers extended their MLS-club record unbeaten streak to seven games, playing the New England Revolution to a scoreless draw before a sellout crowd of 20,674 at JELD-WEN Field on Thursday night.
A week after scoring three goals in a 3-2 road win over Sporting Kansas City, the Timbers dictated the pace throughout the evening against the Revolution with 67.4% possession and firing off 22 shots. Despite this, the Revs stymied the Timbers on their home turf to split points. It was the first time the league’s third-highest scoring team has been shut out this season.
Portland goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts turned in a stellar performance with three saves picking up his third clean sheet of 2013.
His best save came in the 42nd minute when the Revs' Diego Fagundez made a run into the box and played wide to Ryan Guy, whose shot was turned away on a diving stop.
Second-half substitute Saër Sène also had a nice look from distance in the 71st minute, but his shot skipped just over the crossbar.
New England earned at least a point for their second straight game and the third clean sheet in the last four games behind the play of goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth, who finished with eight saves, six of them in the second half.
One of the best looks of the night came on a smooth build up from the Timbers midfield in the 53rd minute. Rodney Wallace beat his man to the left wing and fired in a perfect cross to the top of the six for a waiting Ryan Johnson, whose one-time volley required a diving save from Shuttleworth.
And as the game wore on, the Portland attack only became more frenzied.
A clean look from Diego Valeri on a counter attack skipped just wide in the 82nd minute and a spinning shot by Darlington Nagbe in the 88th minute was once again turned away – a plenty familiar sight on the evening.
Their most dangerous look came in the 15th minute when Nagbe was sprung loose on a through pass from Diego Chara, but Nagbe’s open look at the goal was punched away by Shuttleworth.
The first half proved plenty frustrating in and of itself, with the Timbers winning seven corner kicks and firing off 12 shots, but there was little to show for all the action around the New England goal.
Both teams will be back in action for next week's midweek round of games. The Revolution return home to play host to Real Salt Lake on Wednesday at Gillette Stadium, while the Timbers play at Dallas on the same night.
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
Portland Timbers (3-1-5, 14pts) vs. New England Revolution (2-3-3, 9pts)
May 2, 2013 – JELD-WEN Field (Portland, Ore.)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
New England Revs 0 0 0
Portland Timbers 0 0 0
Scoring Summary
None
Misconduct Summary
POR: Wallace (Caution), 70
Lineups & Stats
POR: GK Ricketts, D Jewsbury (Alhassan, 81), D Danso, D Silvestre (Jean-Baptiste, 58), D Harrington, M Chara, M Valeri, M Johnson, W. ©, F Nagbe, F Johnson, R. (Piquionne, 62), F Wallace
Substitutes Not Used: GK Kocic, D Miller, M Zemanski, F Valencia
TOTAL SHOTS: 22 (Nagbe, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Nagbe, 3); FOULS: 8 (Chara, 3); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 4
NE: GK Shuttleworth, D Goncalvez ©, D Duckett, D McCarthy, D Barnes, M Cissé (Caldwell, 45), M Fagundez (Sène, 67), M Guy, M Rowe, M Nguyen, F Bengtson (Imbongo, 87)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Reis, M Dorman, M Nyassi, M Toja
TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Rowe, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Four players, 1); FOULS: 9 (Nguyen, 3); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 9
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Assistant Referees: Adam Garner, Jeremy Hanson
4th Official: Daniel Radford
Attendance: 20,674
Time of Game: 1:52
Weather: Overcast, 75 degrees
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
