Timbers Man of the Match: Valiant Effort Edition

Last night's match against the LA Galaxy was a confusing one for Timbers fans. Despite the team's defensive lapses the Timbers had several stand out performances in the the attack, giving some hope going forward. Nobody was perfect, but a few players stood out enough for our editors to pick them as the Man of the Match.

Geoff - Kris Boyd

For me it's gotta be Kris Boyd.

While it was clear the defense and midfield were butter to LA's hot knife, Boyd proved that he's still worth that large sum of money the Timbers are paying him despite the loss of John Spencer. The first goal proved that they're getting their offensive teeth back and the second was a beautiful set piece that showed LA and Beckham that our guys can be just as dangerous. Very impressed with him tonight and it was a well deserving brace from him.

Check out the rest of our Man of the Match picks and vote on your own after the jump.

Ryan - Jack Jewsbury

My Man of the Match is Captain Jack. He had 79 successful passes and won a lot of headers in the middle of the field. He also had 4 shots with three of them being on target and one forcing a good save from Saunders. He was all over the pitch trying to do everything he could to fight for the ball and at one point harried Becks for a good 20 yards backwards. Argue all you want about taking the Armband away from Jack but tonight he showed he cared and had desire.

Andy - Eric Alexander

EA had his best game as a Timber and took control wherever he was on the pitch. As a left wing in the first half he beautifully orchestrated several lightning fast moves up the pitch, with the ball ending up in a dangerous position several times. He's been trying to get this kind of movement to work for weeks, but yesterday's match was the first time it actually worked on a consistent basis. His work nearly gave him an assist, if Jack Jewsbury's first half effort from inside the penalty area had gotten past Josh Saunders.

In the second half he replaced Lovel Palmer in the center of the pitch, where, sadly, he was less involved in the attack. But he held the center of the pitch much better than the Timbers had in the first half. Which obviously isn't saying much, but whatever -- he played well. He also took the legs out from under Landon Donovan -- the only legitimate foul on LD all night.

Will - Kris Boyd

I wondered this week how Boyd would respond on the pitch to the firing of John Spencer. He looked shaken talking to the press about Spencer early in the week and his refusal to talk to Geoffrey C. Arnold certainly showed that a nerve had been struck. On the pitch we saw nothing of the sort. Boyd came out and battled for ninety five minutes and had a hand in all three Timbers goals, scoring two of them himself. Where Beckham showed off a beautifully curled ball to score off a free kick, Boyd's brute power approach to dead ball situations paid dividends today and, in combination with a nice run to get free early on, proved to be the difference between a blowout and a entertaining game.

There are our picks for Man of the Match, but what are yours? Be sure to cast your vote and let us know why in the comments.