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So even if there was progress made on a scorching Sunday afternoon at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon, well, some habits are hard to break. City SC wasted a whole bunch of scoring chances, especially in the first half, when it could have broken the game open, and then couldn’t protect the situation in the closing minutes to get something out of the game. Both of those were regular events under Olof Mellberg in his 15-game run as coach, and they happened again in David Critchley’s second game as his replacement as City SC lost to the Portland Timbers 2-1, giving up the decisive goal on a corner kick two minutes into second-half stoppage time.

“It is frustrating,” said midfielder Marcel Hartel. “You can feel the mood in the locker room. We have to go into halftime with two goals, for sure, with very good chances. Also, second half we come out immediately, we had good chances with Klauss. We score a goal, and after our goal, I had the feeling we were a bit afraid. We don’t continue to play forward. We were not confident enough to go for a second goal.”

“Very frustrating,” said midfielder Akil Watts, whose first MLS goal put City SC up 1-0 in the second half. “I felt like we controlled the game. Played well. We created chances. And I felt like we should have put that game away early. We didn’t. Bit us in the butt.”

That is no doubt the fallout from the team’s ill-fated first 15 games, which would have sapped anyone’s confidence but is also something that will have to change for the team to salvage its season and make the playoffs. And the clock is running.

City SC hit the halfway point of its season with three wins, nine losses and five ties. To get to the same point total as the last team in the Western Conference to make the playoffs last season had, it will have to win 11 of 17 games in the second half of the season.

“Of course, every game is very important for us now,” Hartel said, “but we don’t have to get stressful in our head that we go out and give ourselves so much pressure. ‘Oh no, we have to win. We have to win. We have to win.’ We are in the process now with the new coach, and we feel happy about it. You can see the positive attitude in the whole squad, also the coaching staff. We have a different mood in the facility, and we have to build on it. We have to keep going. We have to believe in what we’re doing now. And I promise in the future we will get success.”

This game was always going to be a tough one for City SC, and that was before it was without four key players — Eduard Lowen, Chris Durkin, Cedric Teuchert and Conrad Wallem — who were either injured or suspended for the game. Portland is in fourth place in the Western Conference, Providence Park is a tough place to play and it was 92 degrees at kickoff and got hotter. Even with a full roster, this would have been a difficult one to get a win.

Yet there was City SC dominating the first half, and somehow not taking the lead in the 27th minute when Hartel forced a turnover. The ball came to Klauss in the Portland box. His shot was saved by goalkeeper James Pantemis, and the rebound came to Watts. His shot was saved by Pantemis, and the rebound came to Hartel. His shot went wide.

“One of us has to score in that situation,” Hartel said. “We have to kill the game today, earlier.”

City SC had its highest expected goals total of the season and its most shots on goal. Portland didn’t put a shot on goal until 40 minutes into the game. City SC took the game to Portland, which went against the way it was supposed to be. But none of its attackers could score as City SC showed why it is 28th in the league in goals with 14.

“In these moments, we have to find a way as a team to finish games off,” Critchley said. “We created chances. Once we can finish them as a team — it’s not on one player, it’s on a team — we’re looking at a completely different game.”

That City SC got that many chances was encouraging.

“Many more positives than negatives,” Critchley said. “OK, the result didn’t go our way today. We obviously had a moment where we conceded late in the game. But I told the guys, my message was very clear to them that my emotions in this game were not disappointment, was not anger, was not frustration. My emotions are proud and excited for the very near future for this team. This team is going to continue to grow. This team is going to continue to get better and start winning football games.”

“We’re keeping the ball a lot more,” Watts said. “Before, we were just dumping in behind and hoping for the best, and I feel like we’re actually playing soccer. Now it’s enjoyable to play like this. The team is going to grow, and as we grow, we have got to get better, and we have to win games.”

Watts got his chance for redemption for his 27th minute miss in the 50th minute, having a ball intended for Simon Becher get deflected to him in the box and he drove it in from 6 yards out. That lead lasted only five minutes before an individual effort by Portland right back Antony, which involved flipping the ball over defender Tomas Totland and then putting a shot in the top right corner out of the reach of a diving Burki.

But once it gets a lead, City SC has to find a way to keep it. City SC has allowed nine goals in the past seven games in the 70th minute or later. It has allowed four after the 83rd minute in the past four games. Part of that on Sunday was because once Portland had tied the game at 1-1, City SC saw very little of the ball and Portland’s pressure on the City SC goal grew and grew. In the 91st minute, off a Portland corner kick by Santiago Morales, David Ayala redirected it in to give the Timbers the lead.

To Critchley, it was excellent individual effort. To Hartel, it was a goal that had to be stopped.

“We have to work on it,” Hartel said, “and we didn’t stay that focused for 90 minutes. The second goal when we conceded was too easy, it was a corner from our penalty spot, and he was alone there. So, we have to fix it. We have to continue working for 90 minutes or more.”

City SC is home on Saturday to face the Los Angeles Galaxy, then has an 11-day break to its next game, at home against Orlando.