Heat Struggles to Beat Portland

In the past few weeks, the Los Angeles Heat has made several moves to add more offense. It hired a pair of international-caliber forwards and Coach Bobby Sibbald appears to have installed a more aggressive attack to complement them.

Saturday night, in an American Professional Soccer League West match against the Portland Timbers at West Torrance High, Sibbald went with only two fullbacks much of the game and allowed his backfield to come forward.

Just how long it will take the Heat to polish its offense remains to be seen. Although the team outshot Portland, 20-9, regulation play ended in a 1-1 tie. After two 10-minute overtime periods that drew a few boos from the estimated crowd of 750, it was up to Heat goalie Mike Littman to record the victory by stopping one of Portland’s five penalty kicks. The Heat scored on all five of its attempts.

Littman was voted the game’s outstanding player.

The Heat (4-2) played one of its best games of the year and pulled into fourth place in the APSL Southern Division, two points ahead of Arizona.

The Heat had several chances to win the game in regulation. About a minute into the game, midfielder Bobby Bruch centered a ball to a wide-open Jeff Hooker, who slipped and fell. Brad Smith of the Heat missed a sit-out shot to the left at the 50-minute mark and Danny Pena slipped in front of the goal for a nice header, only to have it blocked by Portland goalie Todd Strobeck .