Portland Timbers have been held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Chicago Fire in their MLS encounter this evening.
The visitors were the first to come close to opening the scoring, doing so in the ninth minute when Alex chipped the ball up for himself before turning and forcing a save from Donovan Ricketts.
Chicago took the lead in the 19th minute after Norberto Paparatto had collided with Quincy Amarikwa inside the box, allowing Jeff Larentowicz to convert the spot kick.
The Timbers almost levelled things up again right on the stroke of half time when the ball fell to Will Johnson inside the box, but his shot was saved at point-blank range.
The visitors came close to doubling their lead 10 minutes after the restart when Matt Watson drove an effort towards goal, but Ricketts was equal to it, tipping the shot over the top.
The hosts began to crank up the pressure after the hour mark and came close twice in quick succession in the 66th minute, but on both occasions Steve Zakuani saw his shots saved.
Portland came close again with 20 minutes of the match remaining as Johnson looked to pounce on a defensive mix-up, only to roll his effort inches wide.
They did finally have their equaliser in the 79th minute when Darlington Nagbe's effort was blocked and Gaston Fernandez was the first to react to the rebound, stroking his shot home.
Chicago's chances of regaining their lead took a major blow with just four minutes of normal time remaining as Patrick Nyarko received a second yellow card for a foul on Diego Chara, leaving the visitors with just 10 men.
They managed to hold on for the point, however, as the spoils were shared at Providence Park.
Barney Corkhill
