Vancouver Whitecaps continued their period of Cascadian derbies with two more games on Friday and AFTN took in both matches.
It was a case of you win some, you lose some, with the U23's losing 2-1 to Portland in the morning, but the Reserves beating Seattle 2-1 in the evening.
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The day kicked off at 11am with another trip to Piggy Park in Portland, this time on PDL action.
Having set the attendance record for a PDL match last week, the Timbers broke it again with 8,174 fans heading along to see the Timbers U23's make it five wins out of five.
Portland were deserved winners in the end, but had two absolute howlers from Caps goalkeeper Lucas Menz to thank for the three points. It was definitely a debut to forget for the former Abbotsford Mariners goalie.
The Timbers had the better of the early proceedings, with Menz saving an Erik Hurtado shot at his near post in the third minute.
A minute later, it was the woodwork that saved the Caps, with Cam Vickers heading a Roberto Farfan cross off the bar.
With Portland in the ascendency, Hurtado, Mark Sherrod and Steven Evans all put good chances wide for the Timbers.
Vancouver then shocked the hosts with a cracking goal against the run of play in the 33rd minute.
Caps captain Gagandeep Dosanjh played the ball through to Ben Fisk, who unleashed a rocket from just inside the box high into the net to stun the home fans.
The goal seemed to knock the wind out of the sails of the Timbers for the rest of the half.
With two minutes remaining, Michael Marousek cut the ball back to Cam Hundal just inside the box and although Portland keeper Spencer Richey fumbled his low drive, he managed to recover quickly to grab the rebound.
The Timbers nearly tied things up in first half stoppage time, but Menz did well to keep out Chris Harms with a fine leg save at his near post.
Down a goal, Portland really came out all guns blazing in the second half.
Hurtado flashed a header wide in the first minute of the restart and Farfan fired inches past the right hand post seven minutes later.
As the hour mark approached, Sherrod connected with a Vickers cross and was the latest Timber to come within inches of grabbing the equaliser.
Although Vancouver were living on borrowed time, the manner in which they did finally concede was unfortunate.
Sherrod broke up the left for Portland in the 65th minute and played in Farfan, who ran into the box and hit a speculative shot towards goal which Menz seemed to have easily covered. Unfortunately for the Caps keeper, he got down to it a split second too late and allowed the ball to squirm under his body and into the net.
Portland continued to pressure straight from the kick off and Hurtado found himself unmarked at the back post, blasting over, when anywhere on target would have given the Timbers the lead.
The home side got that lead in the 70th minute.
Sherrod slipped a neat pass inside to Vickers, who stayed onside perfectly to beat Menz at his near post. The goalie once again seemed to have the shot covered but somehow let the ball through his hands and into the back of the goal.
With twelve minutes remaining, the Caps had a rare foray forward, when Hundal ran at the Timbers defence and won a corner. As the corner came across, a Hundal volley forced a fine save from Richey for another corner.
It was the closest Vancouver came to levelling and the final whistle signalled a disappointing loss.
The Whitecaps line up was:
Lucas Menz; Bobby Jhutty, James Farenhorst, Shawn Parkes, Adam Polakiewicz; Cam Hundal, Ben McKendry (Carlos Marquez 60), Reynold Stewart (Gagan Josan 85), Gagandeep Dosanjh; Ben Fisk (Yassin Essa 69), Michael Marousek [subs Not Used: Callum Irving, Tyrin Hutchings, Sangyoon Hwang]
You can find some photos from the PDL game <a href="
Five hours later, up the I5, the Whitecaps were to have the better of the next Cascadian derby, as the Reserves triumphed 2-1 over Seattle Sounders at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.
The big talking point for Seattle fans was the return of striker Steve Zakuani, playing his first competitive match since having his leg broken over a year ago. For Vancouver fans, the big talking points were another two goals from Carlyle Mitchell to seal the win and the fact that it has now become clear that Darren Mattocks is never going to score against Seattle!
Vancouver had the first real chance of the match when Greg Klazura shot over at the ten minute mark.
The Caps kept the pressure on and Mattocks brilliantly got his head onto a Michael Nanchoff cross, only to see his goalbound effort acrobatically stopped by reality TV flop Andrew Weber in the Sounders goal.
Zakuani nearly made it a dream return in the 21st minute, when he got onto the end of a long Seattle punt up the field, shaking off the attentions of two Vancouver defenders before trying to lob Brad Knighton with his outstretched foot. The Caps keeper just managed to make himself big enough to claw the ball down into his arms.
Vancouver kept pressing and forced a couple of corners in the 26th minute. As Nanchoff sent over the second one, Mitchell rose unchallenged to head a brilliant bullet into the net for the opening goal.
The Sounders came close to levelling two minutes later when Zakuani ran at Mitchell, twisted and turned, before firing inches past the left hand post.
Omar Salgado had a great chance to make it two for the Caps in the 31st minute when he stayed onside to get on the end of Etienne Barbara's perfect through ball, but he pulled his shot wide right.
Three minutes later, Knighton had to be alert to get down low to a Christian Sivebaek shot.
With nine minutes remaining, Servando Carrasco went in high on Russell Teibert, as the young Canadian breezed past him on an attack. The American earned a booking and Teibert had to be helped off the field with a thigh injury.
Mattocks again came close to netting his first goal against the Sounders in the 40th minute, flicking on Barbara's cross towards goal, only to be thwarted by a last ditch scrambled clearance from the last defender on the line.
If the Jamaican was frustrated by that, he was to be even more so nine minutes into the second half.
Barbara played him in with another inch-perfect ball and Mattocks' pace left two Seattle defenders for dead, as he bore down on goal. He should have buried it, but hit it fairly meekly and allowed Weber to get a despairing hand to it and pull it in.
As the hour mark approached, the home side should have levelled.
Aaron Kovar gave Mitchell a hard time in the box and it looked as if the Trinidad international had pulled the Sounders Academy player back. With no penalty given, Kovar then hit a weak shot at Knighton from a great position, when he really should have found the net.
Another weak shot cost the Sounders two minutes later, after David Estrada had easily dispossessed Matt Watson and ran through on goal.
The Whitecaps doubled their advantage in the 73rd minute and it was another bullet header from Mitchell.
Floyd Franks sent in a free kick to the back post and Mitchell was allowed to ghost in and give Weber no chance.
As you can see from this picture of the goal, he was perhaps allowed to ghost in as he apparently had removed his head!
The Sounders then pushed forward looking to try and get something from the match.
Klazura tried to find Mitchell with a pass back in the 75th minute, which was intercepted by Seattle sub Dominique Dismuke, who shot straight at Knighton.
The Academy player wasn't to be denied though and pulled a goal back for the Sounders in the 81st minute.
He was sent clear down the right wing and just when it looked as if he was going to run the ball out of play, he somehow managed to find a way past Knighton at his near post from the most acute of angles, ending up in amongst the Sounders Oompa Band for his troubles.
As the minutes ticked down, Knighton turned out to be the matchwinner for the Caps, making a tremendous double save in the 88th minute, first from Mike Seamon and then a stop from Carrasco at point blank range from the rebound.
It was a well deserved win for the Whitecaps, who still top the Western MLS Reserve League standings.
The Whitecaps Reserves line up was:
Brad Knighton; Greg Klazura, Carlyle Mitchell, Jordan Harvey, Russell Teibert (Daniel Stanese 39); Floyd Franks, Matt Watson (Bryce Alderson 69), Etienne Barbara; Omar Salgado, Michael Nanchoff (Long Tan 56), 22.Darren Mattocks (Caleb Clarke 79) [sub Not Used: Callum Irving].
You can find some photos from the PDL game <a href="
There's another couple of Cascadian derbies to come on Sunday, as the Whitecaps U16 and U18 sides entertain their Seattle counterparts at SFU, starting 1pm.
Can't get enough of these derby games? Then head along and we'll see you there.
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