Jonathan Rodriguez leveled the match with a header in second-half stoppage time and the Portland Timbers escaped a trip to Sandy, Utah, with a 3-3 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Rodriguez and Evander each scored their 15th goals of the season for Portland, which halted a three-match road losing streak.
Antony also scored and made a play to keep the attack alive ahead of Rodriguez’s dramatic, late equalizer, which came only two minutes after Diogo Goncalves thought his 90th-minute goal was going to serve as the match-winner for Salt Lake.
The Timbers (12-10-8, 44 points) sit in eighth in the Western Conference, while Salt Lake (14-7-9, 51 points) is in second. The top nine teams land a spot in the playoffs.
Goncalves and Dominik Marczuk each scored their first MLS goals for RSL. Diego Luna added his sixth tally of the season during a dominant first half that ended with the hosts holding a 2-0 lead.
But that advantage disappeared in the 76th minute, as Salt Lake conceded multiple goals for the fifth time in six matches.
First, Antony guided home a low finish in the 62nd minute from about 8 yards out after RSL failed to clear a corner kick.
Then, in the 76th, Evander rattled the underside of the crossbar with a brilliant 30-yard free kick for a goal that gave him either a goal or an assist in 11 straight league matches.
Goncalves looked to have rescued all three points on an attack that began when RSL’s Andrew Brody won a 50-50 ball that he quickly fed to Cristian Arango.
From there, Arango played another pass to his right to find Goncalves at the penalty arc, where Goncalves drove a low finish into the back of the net.
But on Portland’s next foray forward, Antony tracked down a ball near the attacking byline and dropped a pass back to Miguel Araujo, who curled a hopeful diagonal ball to the back left post.
That’s where Rodriguez met it after losing his marker, powering a header past Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Gavin Beavers.
–Field Level Media
