Day 11 at Atlanta, Georgia
In a match that was as back-and-forth as the French Open Tennis tournament, it came to down to whoever scored last would win, and in this case, it was the Atlanta Silverbacks who fought back from being down three separate times to the Portland Timbers, then getting a late goal from Alan Woods on a scramble in front of the net in the 82nd minute that turned out to be the game winner for the Silverbacks in a 4-3 win in front of 1,756 at Atlanta's DeKalb Memorial Stadium. Portland's Alan Gordon scored twice, and Dan Antoniuk had his first goal for 2004 for the Timbers, while Mac Cozier scored twice for the Silverbacks, and Adilson DeLima also had a penalty kick goal for the home side.
Adilson DeLima scores on a penalty to level the score at 1-1.
The Timbers had the momentum early in the match, and it didn't take long for the visiting side to take the lead, when in the 7th minute, A-League leading scoring Alan Gordon knocked home a shot after Atlanta goalkeeper Joe Barton fumbled away an Alex Bengard corner kick, and the resulting shot gave the Timbers a 1-0 lead.
In the 18th minute, the Silverbacks had their first good scoring opportunity when a centering pass found a wide-open John Ball trailing the play, but though he had a mostly open goal, his shot from near the penalty spot was high and wide of the net. Five minutes later, the Silverbacks had another good opportunity when Ball once again had the ball at his feet, but his shot to the lower left corner was smothered by Portland goalkeeper Josh Saunders.
In the 29th minute, the Timbers came close to widening the lead when Gordon got his head to a penalty kick while only about 10 yards out, but his header was about a yard wide to the right. One minute later, it was fellow striker Dan Antoniuk who had a good shot on goal, but his shot off a cross from Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar was also just wide right.
The visitors had most of the momentum to this point, but that would end in the 34th minute when the home side were awarded a penalty kick after Timbers defender Aaron Heinzen was called for a penalty in the box for going over the back of a Silverbacks player when going for a clearing header. Adilson DeLima stepped up and buried the penalty kick into the left side of the net as Saunders guessed wrong, leveling the score at 1-1.
The Silverbacks would have the last good scoring chance of the half when forward Gary Brooks had slipped in behind the Timbers defense, but Saunders cut off the angle and made a diving save to keep the score level at the half.
In the 49th minute, the Silverbacks looked ready to take the lead once again when Alex Pineda-Chacon got in behind the defense and had a one-on-one with Saunders, but the Timbers keeper knocked the ball right off Chacon's foot as he entered the box to end the scoring threat. The Silverbacks had momentum for the early part of the second half, and once again the Timbers dodged a bullet when in the 55th minute, a diagonal shot from Brooks had to be cleared off the line by Timbers defender Gavin Wilkinson.
But then in the 59th minute, the Timbers once again took the lead when midfielder Scott Benedetti played a chip into the path of Antoniuk, whose initial shot was saved by Barton, but Gordon was there to knock home the winner into the empty net, upping his league-leading total to nine goals, and giving the Timbers a 2-1 lead.
But the lead wouldn't last for long, when in the 67th minute, when a Fred Degand chip into the box was headed home by Atlanta's Mac Cozier from only about six yards out, and once again the teams were level, this time at 2-2.
Then just three minutes later, the Timbers responded when Antoniuk charged in on Barton after a through ball from Jake Sagare had slipped him in behind the Atlanta defense, and Antoniuk beat Barton to the short side to put the Timbers in the lead for the third time at 3-2.
But less than a minute later, the Silverbacks had an answer when Ball made a run down the left side, and found Cozier open in the box, and Cozier beat Saunders to the far side of the net to once again level the score, which was now 3-3.
The Silverbacks how had all of the momentum, and the Timbers were showing fatigue after having played less than 24 hours ago in Charleston, and did not have a deep bench to get any relief from. After a few more close chances for the Silverbacks, and another great save from Saunders in the 80th minute on a shot from DeLima, the Silverbacks finally took the lead for the first time in the 82nd minute when once again Ball found a Silverbacks player open in the box in Woods, and though it appeared Woods was attempting to cross, the ball appeared to rebound off a Timbers player but the result was it slipped past Saunders into the net to give the Silverbacks their first lead of the night at 4-3.
The Timbers pushed forward and made some substitutions in an attempt to find the equalizer, and had a great chance to level the score in stoppage time when the ball fell to the feet of midfielder Erik Cronkrite, who was only a few minutes into his first-ever A-League match, but though the Silverbacks keeper was out of position and Cronkrite had a mostly open net, he half-volleyed the ball a few yards over the bar and the chance was lost. The Silverbacks prevented the Timbers from getting any more good chances on net and held on for the 4-3 win, sending the Timbers to their first loss of the 2004 season, and vaulting the Silverbacks up to fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
