Sporting KC sits last in the West after 14 matches. Here’s what happened in Portland

The first matchup between the Portland Timbers and Sporting KC featured a plethora of goals, three in each half, as the teams played to a high-scoring draw.

Go figure, the first half of the reverse fixture on Saturday night ended up scoreless.

That is, until the regularly scheduled chaos resumed in the second half and left Sporting KC (11 points) at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

Portland scored twice to defeat Sporting 2-1 at Providence Park. The match was Sporting KC’s fifth straight loss in MLS play.

“I thought we were good on the ball (and) I thought we created some good stuff,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said after the match. “Obviously, we got back into the game. I just think giving up the second goal obviously killed us.”

Sporting has not won in league play since March 30, a stretch of eight matches. The club’s only wins during that time have come against lower-division opponents in U.S. Open Cup play. The club has 2 wins, 7 losses, 5 draws this MLS season.

So how does Sporting get out of its position at the bottom of the standings?

“You’ve gotta keep fighting for it,” Vermes said. “I think the energy, all that’s there. But we gotta keep fighting for it. There’s no other way around it.”

Saturday’s match began poorly for the visitors.

Erik Thommy was subbed off with an injury after 17 minutes. Sporting had plenty of possession but wasn’t incisive or decisive enough finishing chances in his absence.

The club had one shot through 45 minutes.

The Timbers opened the scoring in the 51st minute. Portland’s Evander crossed the ball through multiple defenders — and seemingly Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia’s hands — to Felipe Mora, who headed it in at the back post.

Memo Rodriguez leveled the score in the 62nd minute. Sporting’s Alan Pulido held the ball up inside the box and dished it back to Rodriguez, who ripped a shot past Timbers goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau. It was Sporting KC’s first shot on target.

Portland scored the winner in the 79th minute when Evander drilled a headed pass from Mora into the net past Melia.

In its final real chance in stoppage time, Sporting nearly equalized when Crepeau made a stunning save on a Johnny Russell header.

Moving forward, Sporting will be desperate for results. But it may be difficult to find them without Thommy on the field — for however long that may be.

His immediate replacement played well on Saturday, and Vermes made that known. But there is a stylistic difference between Thommy and Felipe Hernandez, who is not a pure attacking midfielder.

“(Felipe) is more of an eight,” Vermes said, referencing a box-to-box midfielder position. “He’s not an attacking guy. Thommy is more of an attacking guy in that position, and losing that for sure hurt us.”

It’s also a reminder that last season Sporting KC had Gadi Kinda to call upon for such an opportunity. This year, there isn’t that like-for-like swap.

“I think that hurt us up through the middle of the park, not having someone that was more like a No. 10,” Vermes said.

Sporting’s attention now turns to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday night. Kickoff from Children’s Mercy Park is set for 7:30 p.m.

The midfield will be thin for that match: In addition to Thommy’s situation, Remi Walter hasn’t yet returned from injury and now Memo Rodriguez is suspended for a match due to yellow card accumulation.