Timbers show improvement before devastating collapse

Portland was minutes away from escaping Houston with a 2-2 draw.

Phil Neville wanted to talk about the positives.

The Timbers dominated possession. They generated far more chances on net, capitalized on a pair of opportunities and fought back on the road to tie Houston in the 80th minute.

Heck, even Kristoffer Velde finally scored.

“I think the frustration is that for all the good plays — our structure I thought was fantastic — it was a couple of mistakes that have really cost us,” Neville said.

Oh yes, the mistakes.

See, Portland was minutes away from escaping Houston with a 2-2 draw. The Timbers were up a man, the match had stretched deep into stoppage time and all that stood between them and snapping a two-game losing streak was the clock.

Or at least it should have been.

But as stoppage time stretched well beyond its allotted nine minutes following a collision that left Portland keeper James Pantemis bloodied and bandaged, Houston still had time for one final push. And the Timbers gave the Dynamo all the space they needed to find it.

It was Mateusz Bogusz who made Portland pay, corralling a long pass from Jack McGlynn and beating Pantemis in the 105th minute for the winner.

And while it may have been a momentary lapse in an otherwise improved performance, it produced a result that’s becoming far too familiar. Sunday marked Portland’s third consecutive loss. After a month of play, only St. Louis (0-3-1, 1 point) sits below the Timbers in the Western Conference standings.

Yes, the Timbers may have played better on Saturday than they did in their previous two defeats — notable considering Portland played without Antony and Alex Bonetig. Yes, David Da Costa returned to the lineup and looked sharp in his first game back from shoulder surgery. Yes, Gage Guerra’s rebound goal after a blocked Velde penalty in the first half continued to highlight the progress of the club’s young players.

“You have to keep faith, and you have to believe in each other and continue to work and trust that it’s going to pay off,” Guerra said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t tonight. It was last-minute. We couldn’t get a result on the road. But we’re that close.”

But for a season Neville opened by saying it was time to “deliver” — and that “delivery for me is winning” — the Timbers have yet to turn performances into results. In Year 3 of Neville’s tenure, being close isn’t cutting it.

“We’re going through a tough moment and the dressing room’s hurting,” Neville said. “I take full responsibility for that. The players are giving absolutely everything.”

— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor