It was a very odd first 10 minutes, with neither team registering a single shot, but the strategy for the Timbers was clearly to wear the Battery out, as they played the ball around the backline many times and made the Battery chase, hoping to benefit from the Battery having played the night before, and after a long 7 hour bus ride to Portland.

Then in the 12th minute, on the very first shot for either team, the Timbers would take an early lead, when after a quick restart by David Hayes from a Battery foul just outside their box caught the Battery on their heels, Alex Nimo’s cross found Mandjou Keita open at the far post, and the Timbers striker headed home past Battery goalkeeper Keith Wiggans, and the Timbers had an early 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later, the Timbers had another good chance when Tony McManus had an open look fro 20 yards out, but his blast was over the crossbar. One minute later, it was Portland’s George Josten who made a nice diagonal run into the Battery box, with his shot across the goal mouth sliding a few yards wide left.

Two minutes later, Keita nearly doubled his goal total when a bad clearance fell to his foot, and his attempt to chip an out-of-position Wiggans from near the corner of the 18 yard box was just over the crossbar.

In the 23rd minute, the Battery had a golden opportunity to level the score when Scott Buete slipped in behind the Timbers defense as he made a run to the top of the Timbers box, but his open shot from the top of the box was stopped by a diving save by Portland goalkeeper Steve Cronin. Two minutes later, Stephen Armstrong had a similar open look from 20 yards out, but this shot was smothered by Cronin as well.

In the 28th minute, the Timbers were threatening again when Nimo made a deep run into the Battery box, and his attempted cross to Keita at the far post was just snagged by Wiggans this time, not wanting to give up a repeat of the opening goal. On the counterattack, former Timber Dan Antoniuk had a good look from 20 yards out, but this shot was wide left.

Six minutes later, the Battery had another good chance when a give-and-go had Buete open at the top of the box, but his shot was over the bar. Five minutes later it was the Battery on the attack again, when Randi Patterson slipped in behind the Timbers defense, but Cronin was up to the job again, smothering Patterson’s low shot.

In the 39th minute, somewhat against the run of play since the Battery had dominated much of the last 25 minutes of play, the Timbers would double their lead when Keita played a nice touch pass through ball to Nimo, who pulled Bradley slightly off his line before blasting a low shot past Bradley into the far corner of the net, and the Timbers had a 2-0 lead, which they would hold at halftime. This would mark the first time this year that the Battery had give up more than one goal in a match, and was also Nimo’s first goal of the year.

It would not take long for the Battery to change the match in the second half when they would pull one back just five minutes in. A Timbers giveaway at midfield was jumped on by Patterson, who played Armstrong through behind the Timbers defense, and Cronin charged off his line to cut down the angle on the open chance, but Armstrong easily chipped the Timbers keeper and into the net, and the Timbers lead had been reduced to 2-1.

Over the next ten minutes, the Timbers controlled the run of play trying to get their two goal lead back, and in the 53rd minute, a drop pass from Josten to Ryan Pore set up an open blast by the Timbers midfielder, but his blast from outside the Battery box was well over the bar. Three minutes later, Pore was set up for another open shot, this time by Hayes, but again could not put the shot on net. In the 58th minute, the Timbers nearly scored a very clever goal when a low cross from Keita was flicked across the goal mouth by Josten, narrowly missing the far post.

Over the next twenty minutes, it would be the Battery on the attack, looking for the equalizer, and in the 64th minute, after the ball had been kept in the Timbers end a long run of play, a hard shot from Tyler Hemming at the top of the Timbers box was blocked in the Timbers box by defender Mamadou Danso. In the 80th minute, a similar shot by Hemming was deflected over the bar by a sliding block by Stephen Keel.

As in the first half, the Timbers responded to withstanding a long run of possession by the Battery by scoring on the counterattack, this time when Cronin found Keita had midfield, who played a through ball to Pore that seemed destined to be too ambitious, but Pore accelerated past Battery defender Frankie Sanfilippo to get to the ball first, then blasted the ball past Wiggans to the far side to put the Timbers up 3-1.

Late in the match, there was a scuffle near the sideline as tempers flared, and as a result, Battery midfielder Chris Williams would be sent off.

The Timbers had one last good scoring opportunity when Takayuki Suzuki headed Hayes’ free kick just over the bar, but it was not needed as the Timbers held on for the 3-1 lead, and extended their league-record unbeaten streak to 20 matches.

Steve Cronin recorded two saves in the winning effort, while Keith Wiggans had three saves for the Battery