Both teams weakly tested each other’s keepers early in the match, and the Timbers would have a Chris Bagley goal waved off in the fifth minute for a Timbers foul in the box, and the first good look either team would see was a cross from Miami’s Douglas found Sean Fraser open in the box, but his header from 8 yards out was just over the bar.

In the 11th minute, the Timbers would have a similar chance when a cross from Bagley found Shaun Higgins open near the spot, but his volley was over the bar. Four minutes later, it was Bryan Jordan making the run down the right side, and crossed right to the head of Higgins, who was unable to put the shot on net, and the rebound was put well over the bar by Bagley as he was unable to keep the ball down to get a good shot.

In the 18th minute, the Timbers had another good chance of an Andrew Gregor corner kick when it bounced through to Higgins, whose header was blocked by the packed Miami defense, then the follow up header by Cameron Knowles was grabbed by Miami keeper Gabard Fenelon.

But three minutes later, the visitors had a golden opportunity to take an early lead when Fraser stole the ball from Timbers defender Justin Thompson, and had an open breakaway against Timbers keeper Josh Wicks. Fraser went for a dipping shot from 18 yeards to the upper right, and hit the corner of the crossbar and post, with the rebound coming right back to him, but his follow-up into the open net behind Wicks was cleared off the line by a lunging Leonard Griffin.

In the 27th minute, Miami had a great run of possession in the Timbers third, with the ball eventually ending up on the foot of Zinho inside the box with his back to the goal. He moved out a few yards and turned and put a hard shot just wide past the left post.

In the 34th minute, the Timbers nearly gave Miami a goal when a header back from Cameron Knowles back to Wicks did not have enough on it and Miami’s Eric Vasquez was able to get to the ball first and chipped it over a charging Wicks, but also over the goal and the golden opportunity was lost.

Five minutes later, the Miami keeper would make his first tough save when a quick pass into the box from Gregor found Jordan charging towards this post, but his shot from six yards out was tipped wide by Fenelon. A few minutes later, a driven corner kick from Gregor was right on the head of Bagley, but knocked just wide from close-in. After a pretty even first half, the first half would end scoreless.

The first good chance either team would see was in the 54th minute when Miami’s Fraser dropped the ball back to Douglas, whose low blast from 35 yards caused a bit of trouble for Wicks, who fumbled it away a bit before collecting the rebound.

In the 60th minute, Miami had another great chance to take the lead when a nice pass from Zinho had Fraser slippeing in behind the Timbers defense and forced Wicks off his line, and the ball was knocked wide to an open Vasquez, who had a look at an open net from 18 yards out but hit it wide right as he had a tough angle, and probably more time to shoot than he thought.

Fatigue began to set in for both teams, with Miami having played a road Open Cup game on Tuesday, and on the road in Seattle on Thursday, and the Timbers also having a road Open Cup game on Tuesday, and on the road in California on Thursday. From about the 60th to 75th minute, neither team seemed ready to go forward and give up a goal on the counterattack, but the substitution of midfielder Lawrence Olum for Jordan seemed to give the Timbers a bit of a lift, with Gregor moving up to forward into Jordan’s spot.

Miami probably had their last good chance in the 75th minute when Vasquez had an open run to the top of the Timbers box, but his dipping shot was right at Wicks. Seconds later, Griffin had a good shot from 25 yards out that deflected wide off a Miami defender, then off the following corner by Gregor, a header from Knowles from point blank range was saved by Fenelon and cleared by the Miami defense.

Over the last ten minutes of the match, the Timbers had a large percentage of the possession, and several deep crosses into the box kept Fenelon and his defenders busy, but while they kept the Timbers from getting to any of these dangerous crosses through the end of 90 minutes, it wasn’t quite enough.

Two minutes into stoppage time, the Timbers were pushing the ball down the left side when the center referee stopped play to give a yellow to Miami’s Luchi Gonzalez, apparently for a foul behind the play, and the Timbers were to restart five yards inside the Miami half of the pitch.

Gregor’s free kick curved to just past the penalty spot where Olum went high and headed the shot slightly back towards the left side of the net, slipping just inside the post past Fenelon to give the Timbers the very late 1-0 lead.

About a minute later the whistle blew and the Timbers had their second straight last-minute 1-0 win, and Josh Wicks had four saves in tying Matt Napoleon and Josh Saunders for the most shutouts in a season with six. Gabard Fenelon had four saves in the losing effort.