Seattle fells Timbers

With 66,452 watching on, Seattle roared ahead in the 25th minute with an own goal from Mamadou Danso, who in attempting to clear a cross from Christian Tiffert, succeeded only in planting a volley past goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.

Seattle pulled further clear of its derby rival when Eddie Johnson swept a left-footed shot beyond Ricketts three minutes later, having been left unmarked by the penalty spot.

And the scoring was complete after 62 minutes when Freddy Montero tucked the ball in after a scramble around the edge of the Portland six-yard box.

Seattle, which still has a game in hand over all its Western Conference rivals, is three points behind second-placed Real Salt Lake and two clear of reigning MLS Cup champion Los Angeles.

Columbus Crew could not obtain the unlikely win over Sporting Kansas City it needed to climb into the top five in the Eastern Conference.

It snatched a 1-1 draw against the Conference leader though, with a 90th-minute effort from Eddie Gaven cancelling out a 10th-minute opener from CJ Sapong.

Columbus now stands one point adrift of Houston Dynamo, which holds the last available MLS Cup spot, while Kansas heads the table by three points, with two games to play, from Chicago Fire.

Chivas USA and FC Dallas also battled out a 1-1 draw, with Dallas forward Blas Perez netting in the eighth minute and Jorge Villafana replying in the 69th minute.

Chivas sits bottom of the Western Conference, while Dallas has only fading hopes of reaching the MLS Cup as it trails Vancouver Whitecaps by four points.