From the opening whistle, it was obvious the visiting RailHawks were keeping five or six players behind the ball, and playing their third game in five nights, were looking to protect their goal rather than send too many players forward. But it would be the RailHawks who had the first good look at goal, when in the 22nd minute, Chris Carrieri made a run into the Timbers box, but his tight-angled shot was well wide of the right post.

The Timbers then had a long span of control in the Carolina end, with several free kicks that gave them dangerous crosses into the box, but could not get any dangerous shots on net against the tough RailHawks defense. The Timbers also had a good chance on one of those free kicks, in the 28th minute, when midfielder Andrew Gregor went for goal instead, but despite hitting a good shot, was saved easily by Chris McClellan. Two minutes later, another dangerous cross from Gregor had Justin Thompson find the ball with his head near the far post, but hit his shot just wide of the left post.

In the 38th minute, Carolina midfielder Johnny Steele received his second yellow in seven minutes, so the RailHawks would play the rest of the night with just ten men. The Timbers outshot the RailHawks 5-2 in the first half, but only forced the one save on the free kick, and at the half the game was scoreless.

At the half, the Timbers put new acquisition Tom Taylor at left midfield, and with Luke Kreamalmeyer not having started at right midfield with a sore foot and Lawrence Olum getting the start, meant they had brand new players at both outside midfield spots, and it showed as the Timbers did not have the offensive flow against what should have been a tired RailHawks defense.

The RailHawks would make a deep run in the 61st minute, but a cross by Stuart Brightwell was smothered by Timbers goalkeeper Josh Wicks, but the Timbers attack would pick up as they looked for the winning goal.

In the 67th minute, a chip into the box from Gregor had Bryan Jordan in behind his defender, but McClellan came off his line and collided hard with the Timbers forward as he punched the ball out of danger.

The closest the RailHawks would come to scoring in the second half was in the 76th minute when a long free kick by Kupono Low bounced directly to Wicks and was easily stopped, and was the only save of the night credited to Wicks.

Jordan would have another good chance in the 78th minute, but the Timbers striker’s header was easily saved on the line by McClellan.

The Timbers started getting more good chances when David Hague was brought in after 79 minutes and the Timbers would use a three forward formation, and in the 82nd minute, it nearly paid off when Hague made a nice move to turn and shoot from near the top of the box, but his shot was past the left post. A few minutes later, a run down the left side by Hague was played perfectly to a wide-open Gregor near the top of the box, but Gregor scuffed the wide-open shot and the threat was ended. In the 89th minute, after the Timbers had a long span of possession, a hard shot from Neil Dombrowski from 25 yards out was blocked by the RailHawks defense and cleared.

In stoppage time, the Timbers continued to play dangerous balls into the RailHawks box for the next several minutes, and just before the end of stoppage, a punt from the Timbers box by Wicks bounced just once and into the Carolina box and McClellan and Jordan collided as they both went for the ball, with McClellan reacting angrily after the play and having to be held back by his teammates, but Jordan got the yellow for what appeared to be a 50/50 ball, but it was the last good chance as the late assault on the RailHawks net produced no goals, and Carolina escaped with a 0-0 draw.

Josh Wicks was credited with just the one save on the free kick by Low as he recorded his third straight shutout for the Timbers, while Chris McClellan was credited with four saves for the RailHawks.