Three points huge for Chicago

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Fire were facing a most unfortunate result Saturday night. After outplaying Toronto FC for the entire first half, they found themselves in a 1-1 tie with 30 minutes to go in the second half. They then threw everything they could at Toronto goalkeeper Greg Sutton without getting the goal they needed.

Finally, with about one minute left in four minutes of scheduled stoppage time, midfielder John Thorrington stepped up and put a shot away from right in front of Sutton, slotting the ball between Sutton's legs for the game-winner and a 2-1 Fire win that ended a five-game winless streak.

The decision also moved the Fire out of their fourth-place tie with Toronto and into third place all alone in the Eastern Conference, ahead of D.C. United.

With the way things have gone for the Fire recently, between a 341-minute scoreless streak and then losing leads in their last two games, a draw Saturday would have been an expected outcome, despite the fact they outplayed Toronto for much of the game.

"We had a very good first half," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said. "In the second half they made two changes and that gave them a little push to start the second half. But I felt we got ourselves back into it again. It was a credit to our guys to push the game after they got the equalizer."

"That has been the story for us the last couple of games," Thorrington said. "We have been on top and deservedly so. We came into the locker room pleased with how we did. But any mistake we make the other team seems to score all of our chances. We are very relived with got three points we felt we deserved."

With defenders Dasan Robinson out due to injury and regular starter Bakary Soumare out due to accumulation of yellow cards, Hamlett gave Woodard his first start. Woolard has been a second half sub in four games this season. Defender Wilman Conde also received his fifth start ahead of veteran Diego Gutierrez.

Fire midfielder Logan Pause returned for his first game in three weeks after suffering a right hip labral tear.

Maintaining possession for all but a few seconds of the first five minutes, the Fire got on the board in the sixth minute when Chad Barrett found Chris Rolfe alone outside the penalty area. Rolfe took one dribble to center the ball, then fired a right-footed shot into the upper right corner above Toronto goalkeeper Greg Sutton.

The Fire dominated much of the opening 45 minutes, and then had a great chance in the 53rd minute, when Cuauhtemoc Blanco ended up with the ball, standing directly in front of Sutton when Segares sent a cross up and over the defense. But Blanco's soft touch hit the crossbar and settled on top of the net.

The lack of a second goal came back to haunt the Fire when Toronto tied the game in the 59th minute. Amado Guevera slotted the ball through three Fire defenders to Abdus Ibrahim, a 16-year-old midfielder making his first MLS appearance. Ibrahim was charging down the middle of the field into the box. Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch came out but Ibrahim made a touch past him, then rolled the ball into the goal.

But after piling on the pressure late, Thorrington got the game-winner and the Fire finally had a win.

"I saw we were building up quite a bit of pressure and I saw (Cuauhtemoc) Blanco with the ball, and he played it right on my foot," Thorrington said. "I played it back to Justin (Mapp), and continued my run, and when I made my turn, the ball was bouncing over one of their players' heads, and I saw the 'keeper coming out. Thankfully I hit the target."

The ball had come from defender Daniel Woolard, and came in the end of a mind-numbing six-minute stretch in which the Fire put six shots at the goal, three of them on goal, and finally got the game-winner.

"The good thing is we are creating a lot of chances and they are going to go in eventually," Busch said. "I think you saw how determined we were tonight."