1978 Portland Timbers season

Portland Timbers

1978 season
Owner	Oregon Soccer, Inc.
Head coach	Don Megson
Stadium	Civic Stadium
NASL	Division: 2nd Playoffs: National Conference final
U.S. Open Cup	Did not enter
Top goalscorer	League: Clyde Best (12 goals) All: Clyde Best (14 goals)
Highest home attendance	League: 23,536 vs. VAN (Jul 21) All: 24,515 vs. NYC (Aug 18)
Lowest home attendance	6,495 vs. COL (Apr 19)
Average home league attendance	League: 11,803 All: 12,902
←  1977 1979  →

The 1978 Portland Timbers season was the fourth season for the Portland Timbers in the now-defunct North American Soccer League.

Squad

The 1978 squad ^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 00 GK   ENG Mick Poole 1 GK   USA Dave Givens 2 DF   SCO Brian McNeill 3 DF   ENG Clive Charles 4 DF   ENG Mick Hoban 4 DF   USA Kelvin Norman 5 DF   ENG Graham Day 6 MF   SCO John Bain 7 FW   SCO Stewart Scullion 8 MF   IRL Jimmy Conway 9 FW   BER Clyde Best

No. Pos. Nation Player 10 FW   CAN Ike MacKay 11 FW   BRB Elson Seale 12 FW   ENG Willie Anderson 13 DF   CAN Peter Stanley 14 DF   ENG Pat Howard 14 FW   USA Archie Roboostoff 16 MF   CAN Brian Gant 17 FW   USA Mike Flater 18 MF   MEX Ignacio Baez 22 GK   USA Jim Gorsek

North American Soccer League

See also: 1978 North American Soccer League season

Preseason

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
March 12, 1978	San Jose Earthquakes	A	0–1
March 19, 1978	Colorado Caribous	H	2–0	7,877	Scullion, Roboostoff
March 25, 1978	Vancouver Whitecaps	A	1–2		Bain

Regular season

National Conference, Western Division standings

Pos	Club	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Vancouver Whitecaps	30	24	6	68	29	+39	199
2	Portland Timbers	30	20	10	50	36	+14	167
3	Seattle Sounders	30	15	15	50	45	+5	138
4	Los Angeles Aztecs	30	9	21	36	69	−33	88

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
Source: ^[2]

League results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
March 31, 1978	California Surf	A	0–1	15,206
April 8, 1978	Oakland Stompers	H	1–0	10,554	Roboostoff
April 15, 1978	San Diego Sockers	H	2–3	8,355	Best (2)
April 19, 1978	Colorado Caribous	H	2–1	6,495	Scullion (2)
April 22, 1978	Rochester Lancers	H	3–2 (OT)	8,667	Bain, Scullion, Anderson
April 29, 1978	San Diego Sockers	A	3–5	3,830	Gant, Best, Scullion
May 3, 1978	California Surf	H	2*–1 (OT)	8,328	Seale
May 7, 1978	Vancouver Whitecaps	A	0–1	13,155
May 10, 1978	Detroit Express	A	1–0	6,729	Howard
May 13, 1978	Memphis Rogues	H	1–0	6,955	Flater
May 17, 1978	New York Cosmos	H	2*–1 (OT)	12,484	Best
May 20, 1978	San Jose Earthquakes	A	3–2	13,856	Bain, Best, Flater
May 24, 1978	Washington Diplomats	H	2*–1 (OT)	10,558	Bain
May 29, 1978	Los Angeles Aztecs	A	4–1	5,206	Seale, Best, Scullion, Flater
June 7, 1978	Los Angeles Aztecs	H	1–0	9,054	Conway
June 10, 1978	Seattle Sounders	H	1*–0 (OT)	15,526
June 16, 1978	New England Tea Men	H	2*–1 (OT)	14,615	Scullion
June 21, 1978	Tampa Bay Rowdies	A	0–2	13,777
June 24, 1978	Washington Diplomats	A	1–2	10,816	Best
June 28, 1978	Rochester Lancers	A	1–0	5,025	McNeill
June 30, 1978	Minnesota Kicks	H	1–0	14,125	Best
July 4, 1978	Oakland Stompers	A	1–0	15,890	Flater
July 7, 1978	San Jose Earthquakes	H	5–1	15,827	Best, Scullion, Anderson, Flater (2)
July 13, 1978	Tulsa Roughnecks	A	0–1	9,620
July 15, 1978	Dallas Tornado	A	3–1	6,388	Seale, Best, Flater
July 19, 1978	Toronto Metros-Croatia	A	1–3	6,490	Best
July 21, 1978	Vancouver Whitecaps	H	0–2	23,536
July 25, 1978	Dallas Tornado	H	2–1	11,971	Gant, Anderson
July 31, 1978	Seattle Sounders	A	2–3 (OT)	22,042	Gant, Best
August 2, 1978	Colorado Caribous	A	3–1	8,638	Bain (3)

* = Shootout win
Source: ^[3]

Postseason

Playoff bracket

	1st round
	Portland Timbers (OT)		2
	Washington Diplomats		1

	Conference semifinals							Conference finals							Soccer Bowl '78
	1	Portland Timbers	1	2	—
	8	Vancouver Whitecaps	0	1	—
								Portland Timbers		0	0	—
								New York Cosmos		1	5	—
	4	Minnesota Kicks	9	0	0
	5	New York Cosmos (MG)	2	4	1
															New York Cosmos		3
															Tampa Bay Rowdies		1
	2	Ft. Lauderdale Strikers (MG)	4*	0	1
	7	Detroit Express	3	1	0
								Ft. Lauderdale Strikers		3	1	0
								Tampa Bay Rowdies (MG)		2	3	1
	3	San Diego Sockers	0	2	0
	6	Tampa Bay Rowdies (MG)	1	1	1

* = Shootout win; MG = Series decided by 30-minute mini-game (score of mini-game in 3rd column)
Source: ^[2]

Playoff results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
August 9, 1978	Washington Diplomats	H	2–1 (OT)	14,230	Bain, McNeill
August 12, 1978	Vancouver Whitecaps	H	1–0	16,437	Best
August 16, 1978	Vancouver Whitecaps	A	2–1	32,266	Best, Anderson
August 18, 1978	New York Cosmos	H	0–1	24,515
August 23, 1978	New York Cosmos	A	0–5	65,287

Source: ^[3]

International friendlies

Date	Opponent [4]	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
May 27, 1978	Galasca (Guatemala)	H	5–0	6,715	Scullion (2), Gant, Flater (2)
June 1, 1978	Bristol City F.C.	H	0–1	8,038

References

1. "Portland Timbers rosters". North American Soccer League Jerseys. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
2. "The Year in American Soccer – 1978". American Soccer History Archives. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
3. "1978 Portland Timbers". Timbers Fan Page. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
4. "NASL-North American Soccer League Jerseys". Archived from the original on December 1, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2025.