BEAVERTON — Phil Neville didn’t lose often as a player. Manchester United won the Premier League title in six of the 11 seasons Neville spent with the club — in some years showing such dominance that anything other than victory became a jarring break from the norm. On Thursday, Neville wasn’t about to compare this Timbers team, which snapped a seven-game unbeaten streak on Saturday with a 4-1 loss to San Jose, to one of soccer’s greatest dynasties. But he did say Portland’s training facility had a particular feeling to it in the days after the loss. “It reminded me of when I was at Man United. When you’re not used to losing games, it feels like death in a way,” Neville said on Thursday. “We’ve been on this good run and winning became a habit and winning became a really good sensation and feeling. “And that (loss) really stuck with us.” In retrospect, Portland felt due for a misstep. The Timbers went into San Jose for their fourth road match in five games, played with a roster missing Jonathan Rodriguez, Diego Chara, Jimer Fory and James Pantemis, and had shown some troubling regression defensively after such a strong start to the season. San Jose took advantage, quickly, and it stung for a Portland side that had been off to its best 10-game start in club history. Bumps like that will come, especially with such a young squad, Neville said. The key is in the response. On Tuesday, the Timbers got a bit of that feeling back with a 3-2 win over Tacoma in the Open Cup Round of 32. While David Da Costa, Santiago Moreno, David Ayala, Antony, Jonathan Rodriguez, Diego Chara, Jimer Fory, James Pantemis, Finn Surman, Kamal Miller and Felipe Mora got the night off, Neville did play Kevin Kelsy, Ariel Lassiter, Ian Smith, Cristhian Paredes and Dario Zuparic the entire 90 minutes. And while the Timbers took the scenic route to victory — Tacoma’s goals in the 48th and 50th minutes turned the game on its head — Neville was pleased that they finally got there. RELATED: An introduction to Gage Guerra, the hero of Portland’s Open Cup win over Tacoma He also wanted the focus to be better. “I think in the last couple of games, we’ve seem to have been hit with a sucker punch. One ball goes in — then another one. So it compounds our mistake,” Neville said. “That is a little bit of inexperience. That is a little bit of naivety. And as a group, I still feel like this group is learning while playing — learning because we’re a new team, learning because we’re sending out a lot of young players. We’re sending out some of the youngest starting elevens in Portland history. So along the way there’s going to be some bumps and some bruises.” In terms of actual injuries, the Timbers will go into Saturday’s match against Sporting Kansas City somewhat healthy. Chara and Rodriguez are expected to be back and available, while Neville said the Timbers will still be without Fory and Pantemis. It’ll be the second consecutive MLS game Pantemis has missed, a circumstance that Neville said has given Maxime Crépeau a whale of an opportunity. Crépeau began the season as the team’s No. 1 keeper, allowed four goals in the opener, was injured then demoted to No. 2 status in favor of Pantemis. And while Pantemis has become a fan-favorite and tallied three clean sheets in nine starts, the pendulum could be swinging the other way. “Jimmy Pantemis came in and rightly kept his position in the team,” Neville said. “What both keepers know is, now Max has got an opportunity to cement his place in the team. “With not playing for a long time, I think the two games this week have really helped him. But what I would say, beyond performance, is his attitude in the group has been phenomenal for the past month. There’s obviously an inner frustration that he wants to play and he wants to play for us, he wants to play for Canada, but there’s that burning winner inside of him. That is why we love him and why he’s ready to play against Kansas City. We trust him. We believe in him.” Crépeau made four saves in Tuesday’s Open Cup win, including a diving stop of a Osaze De Rosario header in the 82nd minute that was among the best of his Timbers career. Pantemis is expected to be healthy enough to play next week. There’s plenty of opportunity for the rest of the roster, too: Despite Saturday’s loss, the Timbers are just a point behind Minnesota for second place in the Western Conference standings. And for players like Da Costa, who did not get to experience a win on Tuesday, Kansas City presents a chance to get back to that familiar feeling. “I was very happy for the players who don’t get to have much playing time. The coach gave them a chance,” Da Costa said. “But I’m a competitor. I want to play every game. So, I definitely wanted to be a part of that.” This article originally appeared on The I-5 Corridor. -- Tyson Alger