Vancouver Whitecaps finally returned to BC Place this afternoon. Thirty-nine days have passed since the Caps last played at home and with every point now proving vital, they ended a five game losing streak with a 2-2 draw with Colorado Rapids.
It was a game which ebbed and flowed, but in the end the Whitecaps threw away two points and gifted the visitors both of their goals through defensive failures.
As is becoming a regular occurrence, Martin Rennie rang the changes with Darren Mattocks capping off a great personal week for the rookie by regaining his starting spot to lead the attack.
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He was joined in the starting line-up by his countryman Dane Richards, with Designated Player Kenny Miller dropping to the bench.
The pressure was on the other Whitecaps DP to perform, after Barry Robson had a disappointing road trip. Robson was soon in the thick of the action, forcing Matt Pickens to fist away a fierce long range strike just three minutes in.
The Whitecaps were having the better possession and Mattocks’ pace was proving to be a handful for the Rapids defence, but once again any actual creativity and danger was pretty much non existent.
In the 21st minute Richards hit the bye line on the right and sent a dangerous ball into the six yard box which Colorado scrambled for a corner as Mattocks was set to pounce,
Six minutes later and the visitors prevented him from pouncing once again, after Pickens quickly recovered to scoop up his fumble of a long range Camilo shot, with Mattocks bearing down on the keeper.
From nowhere, Colorado took the lead in the 34th minute.
Martin Rivero was played through and Jay DeMerit backed further and further off, allowing the Argentinian to crash a shot off the left hand post from the edge of the box.
There was no time for the Whitecaps to relax as the rebound broke to Omar Cummings, who curled a perfect low strike into the empty net for the opening goal.
It was just what the Caps were dreading and it nearly went from bad to worse in the 45th minute when Knighton had to acrobatically tip over a Jaime Castrillon header from a Rivero corner.
As the half ended, the Whitecaps went in knowing that they had to do something to quickly turn this game around. That something was felt to be Kenny Miller and the Scot came on for the second half, with Vancouver finally moving to a 4-4-2 formation.
Colorado had a quick chance to kill the game off five minutes into the second half when they had a two on one break. Conor Casey squared the ball to a free Jeff Larentowicz, but the midfielder pulled his shot wide right when he should have scored.
Vancouver looked to turn up the pressure and had the Rapids defence scrambling in the 62nd minute.
Miller just slightly over hit a through ball to Mattocks and the keeper came out quick to save. The ball came back to Miller who shot at a Rapids player and with the referee waving a Caps penalty appeal away, Miller then sent a great ball across to box to Richards who hit a shot off the ground and just up past the post.
The home side kept pushing and eventually got their breakthrough a minute later.
A Camilo corner was headed to the other corner but Gershon Koffie chased it down, cut inside and played a low cross into the six yard box which Alain Rochat deftly flicked past Pickens, after making his way unmarked from the back post to the front.
The relief around BC Place was huge and the goal gave the Caps a new lease of life, taking the lead in the 68th minute.
The Scottish connection, which many have been waiting to see, finally kicked in and Robson played through Miller, who buried it high into the net.
You got the feeling that two was not going to be enough and Vancouver pushed for the vital third. It was a much more confident and up tempo Caps side but they just couldn’t force another breakthrough.
With the minutes ticking down, Colorado were giving increasing signs that they were not out of this game yet and they tied things up in the 86th minute.
Y-P Lee and Rochat got in a mess on the edge of the box, substitute Jamie Smith easily dispossessed them and curled a perfect ball past Knighton and into the net.
Colorado weren’t finished yet and Cummings forced Knighton into a low save in the final minute minute of regulation.
The Caps couldn’t get anything going in stoppage time and as the final whistle sounded, it was definitely a feeling of two points lost and not a point won, despite coming back from going a goal behind.
The draw effectively takes Colorado out of the playoff hunt and although it increases Vancouver’s lead over Dallas to two points, it now means that if the Caps are to see this out, then they are going to have to take points off their Cascadian rivals and as we all know only too well, that is never easy.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 2 Colorado Rapids
ATT: 18,992
VANCOUVER: Brad Knighton; Young-Pyo Lee, Martin Bonjour (Kenny Miller 46), Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; Alain Rochat, Gershon Koffie, Barry Robson, Dane Richards; Camilo Sanvezzo (John Thorrington 75), Darren Mattocks [subs Not Used: Joe Cannon, Andy O’Brien, Jun Marques Davidson, Matt Watson, Atiba Harris]
COLORADO: Matt Pickens; Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Luis Zapata; Jaime Castrillon, Hendry Thomas (Andre Akpan 82), Martin Rivero (Jamie Smith 73), Jeff Larentowicz; Conor Casey (Joseph Nane 89), Omar Cummings [subs Not Used: Steward Ceus, Hunter Freeman, Kamani Hill, Tyson Wahl]
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