MAY 14 – PORTLAND, OR: Portland Timbers tie 1-1 with Atlanta United at Providence Park, Portland, Oregon (Photo by Diego G Diaz).

PORTLAND, Ore.-Heading to a Memorial Day Weekend marquee match-up, it’s worth asking: Portland has lost their road mojo?

After running out to a bright start, Portland now sits in fifth place in the Western Conference with only two wins over the last two months. In two straight road matches, the Timbers have allowed seven goals while only snatching one in return. The Timbers aren’t panicking. But, as Caleb Porter says, they certainly aren’t doing cartwheels either following their 4-1 loss to Montreal on Saturday.

“We are not happy giving up points,” Porter stated. “But we are a lot better team than the score line indicates and we are a lot closer to being the team that we need to be then it feels right now.”

Portland were both down a man and down a goal early on Saturday. Smelling blood in the water, goal-starved Montreal pounced.

MAY 14 – PORTLAND, OR: Portland will need to win the midfield battle without Diego Chara (Photo by Diego G Diaz).

“What happened at the start of the game changed the entire game,” midfielder Diego Valeri said after the match. “A red card, a penalty kick. It changed a lot of the game.”

“The penalty was a bit of a gut punch and the red card was a second one,” Goalkeeper Jake Gleeson added. “It was tough and Montreal capitalized well at the end of the game.”

“We knew this stretch would be difficult,” Porter said. Saturday‘s match in Seattle will be the end of a slate of four out of five matches being on the road.

The team can take at least some comfort in the fact that Porter was able to field the team‘s preferred line-up on Saturday with Darlington Nagbe looking comfortable in his return from hamstring injury and indeed Portland’s possession rate improved with his return, as Porter predicted in his midweek remarks to the media.

MAY 14 – PORTLAND, OR: Alvas Powell has matched his career high for assists twelve games into the season. (Photo by Diego G Diaz).

That feeling may be fleeting. Diego Chara will be almost certainly be absent for the Seattle match following his red card on Saturday. David Guzman and Vytas, both expected to play against Seattle, are approaching card accumulations.

“I know supporters aren’t happy,” Porter noted offering, “We’re not happy either. But I can tell you this we are going to get back to work and we are going to keep fighting. We are going to stay positive and do what we always do, stick together, and we will work ourselves through this.”

“The best way to make it right,” said Porter, “is for us to go and get a result in the next game versus our biggest rival.”