PORTLAND, Ore. – Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth made a career-high nine saves to help the New England Revolution secure its fifth shutout of the season in a 0-0 draw with the Portland Timbers on Thursday night at Jeld-Wen Field.

For the Revs (2-3-3, 9 pts.), it was their second consecutive clean sheet on the heels of last weekend’s 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Union. The Timbers (3-1-5, 14 pts.), meanwhile, extended their club-record unbeaten run to seven games (3-0-4) despite being shut out for the first time this season.

There were two enforced changes to the Revolution side which claimed that win over Philly last weekend. Darrius Barnes took over for the suspended Chris Tierney at left back, while Bilal Duckett was recalled from his loan with the Rochester Rhinos (USL PRO) to fill in for the injured Andrew Farrell at right back.

The Revolution’s new-look backline was tested early and Shuttleworth came up with a pair of key saves on Darlington Nagbe in the opening 15 minutes. Shuttleworth first made a strong save at his near post on a tight-angle drive, followed up by a huge kick save on a clean breakaway three minutes later.

Portland continued to press as the half progressed but was limited to a series of long-range efforts, while the Revolution so nearly grabbed a goal in the 42nd minute. Diego Fagundez weaved his way across the field before dishing off to Ryan Guy, whose drive toward the near upper corner forced a quality save from Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.

Shuttleworth was called upon again early in the second half when Ryan Johnson found space for a free volley from seven yards. The Revs keeper was perfectly positioned and reacted quickly to knock down the shot before scrambling to secure the ball and prevent a follow-up chance.

Saer Sene entered the game for the Revolution in the 67th minute and wasted little time getting involved, unleashing a 25-yard drive in the 72nd minute which had Ricketts reaching but flew inches over the crossbar. Sene was then denied by Ricketts in the 84th minute when his low shot appeared destined for the lower right corner only for Ricketts to make a clutch save.

Both sides had chances to grab a late winner in stoppage time, but as they did all night, Shuttleworth and Ricketts both produced big saves to keep it scoreless.

The Revs will now return to Foxborough for a pair of home games next week, beginning on Wednesday, May 8, when they’ll host Real Salt Lake at Gillette Stadium.

New England Revolution at Portland Timbers
May 2, 2013 – Jeld-Wen Field (Portland, Ore.)
New England Revolution 0, Portland Timbers 0

Scoring Summary:

None

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth, Darrius Barnes, Jose Goncalves ©, Stephen McCarthy, Bilal Duckett, Ryan Guy, Lee Nguyen, Kalifa Cisse (Scott Caldwell 46), Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez (Saer Sene 67), Jerry Bengtson (Dimitry Imbongo 87)

Substitutes Not Used: Matt Reis, Juan Toja, Andy Dorman, Sainey Nyassi

STATS: Shots 12, Shots on Target 4, Corner Kicks 7, Saves 9, Fouls 7, Offsides 1, Passes 228 (61.9%), Possession 32.6%

Portland Timbers: Donovan Ricketts, Jack Jewsbury (Kalif Alhassan 81), Mikael Silvestre (Andrew Jean-Baptiste 58), Mamadou Danso, Michael Harrington, Diego Chara, Will Johnson ©, Diego Valeri, Rodney Wallace, Ryan Johnson (Frederic Piquinonne 62), Darlington Nagbe

Substitutes Not Used:Milos Kocic, Ryan Miller, Ben Zemanski, Jose Valencia

STATS: Shots 22, Shots on Target 9, Corner Kicks 9, Saves 4, Fouls 8, Offsides 0, Passes 448 (82.8%), Possession 67.4%

* Note that all statistics are unofficial as supplied by Opta
Misconduct Summary:

POR – Rodney Wallace (caution) 70

Referee: Jair Marrufo

Assistant Referees: Adam Garner (AR1), Jeremy Hanson (AR2)

Fourth Official: Daniel Radford
Weather: Clear and 73 degrees

Attendance: 20,674

Team Records

New England Revolution – 2-3-3 (9 pts.)

Portland Timbers – 3-1-5 (14 pts.)

GAME NOTES

• With the draw, the Revs are now 1-1-2 all-time against Portland
• The Revs are now 0-1-1 in matches played in Portland since the Timbers entered MLS in 2011
• The draw moved the Revs’ road record to 1-2-2 on the season … the team’s five road points through five road games is now three points shy of the team’s entire 2012 season total in 17 games (8 points)
• Tonight the Revs posted their fifth defensive shutout in eight games … the team has allowed six goals in eight games, with four coming in one game
• The Revs have posted five shutouts in eight games using two different goalkeepers (Matt Reis – 2 shutouts, Bobby Shuttleworth – 3 shutouts) and eight different defenders in eight games (Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Bilal Duckett, Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, Stephen McCarthy, A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney)
• Jose Goncalves served as team captain tonight … he was the team’s third different game captain this year through eight games
• Bobby Shuttleworth made his sixth start of the season and his fifth in a row … it was his 26th career appearance and his 25th career start
• Bobby Shuttleworth made a career-high nine saves in tonight’s game … his previous single-game high was seven saves on October 27, 2012, in a 1-0 win at Montreal to end the 2012 season
• Bobby Shuttleworth recorded his third shutout of the season and his second in as many games
• Bobby Shuttleworth now has seven career shutouts
• Darrius Barnes made his first appearance of the 2013 season … it was his 93rd career appearance and his 84th career start
• Bilal Duckett, who joined the team in Portland on Tuesday evening after being re-called from USL PRO affiliate Rochester Rhinos, made his first appearance for the Revolution … it was his fifth career MLS appearance
• Bilal Duckett made his first start as a Rev … it was also his first MLS start since June 4, 2011, when he started in a 2-0 loss at Real Salt Lake while with Vancouver Whitecaps FC
• Scott Caldwell (Akron ’13) made his first MLS appearance against his former collegiate coach, Caleb Porter, who is the head coach of Portland now
• The team’s seven corner kicks were a season high through eight games
• Tonight’s backline consisted of only one opening-night starter – Jose Goncalves
• Six different players were unavailable tonight because of injury/illness: Kevin Alston (leukemia), Chad Barrett (hamstring), Andrew Farrell (bone bruise), Clyde Simms (concussion), Donnie Smith (groin) and A.J. Soares (hamstring)
• Chris Tierney, who captained the team the last two games, missed the game while serving a one-game suspension handed down by the MLS Disciplinary Committee yesterday