TORONTO - Danny Koevermans scored twice in the second half to give Toronto FC a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids in MLS play Saturday afternoon.
After a drab first half, the game came alive in the 52nd minute when Toronto's Eric Avila found Ashtone Morgan alone on the left. The 20-year-old Canadian fullback then sent a precise, raking cross through the penalty box that Koevermans tapped in.
The six-foot-three Dutch striker made it 2-0 eight minutes later with a beautiful glancing header off a cross from the right from Nick Soolsma.
Koevermans, one of Toronto's three designated players, now has six goals in seven games this season. He came off to applause in the 73rd minute.
Gambian striker Sanna Nyassi pulled one back for the Rapids in the 69th, burying a ball high in the net from close range after a frantic attack that saw Morgan stop a shot with his face.
The home side had some rocky moments in the final minutes but hung on for the win before 20,318 on a breezy day at BMO Field. Defender Richard Eckersley preserved the win with a goalline clearance in the 90th minute.
Toronto (6-12-12) is now unbeaten in three league games while Colorado (10-9-11) has lost three straight and is winless in four.
It was the third game in a week for both teams (three in eight days for Colorado) -- with Toronto squeezing in a trip to Mexico along the way -- and it showed early on.
The first half was lacklustre, before a muted crowd. Toronto's normally frenetic fans in the southeast corner stood silent as their team failed to put a shot on target in the first 45 minutes. They finally found their voice in the second half.
The Rapids won the MLS Cup at BMO Field last year but have been average this year in a season that featured six straight ties in one stretch. They came into Saturday's game having been shut out by Los Angeles and Chicago in their last two outings.
Toronto, meanwhile, was coming off its first away league win of the season -- a 4-2 victory in Columbus, which leads the Eastern Conference.
Both teams suffered heavy midweek defeats by Mexican sides in the CONCACAF Champions League -- Toronto 4-0 at Pumas and Colorado 4-1 to visiting Santos Laguna.
Toronto has leaked goals all season with a league-worst 52 goals against and 32 goals for. The good news is that Toronto has scored 13 times in its last seven games -- a 3-1-3 stretch.
Looking to bolster its central defence, Toronto deployed captain Torsten Frings as a sweeper.
Toronto threatened in the 19th when Koevermans tracked down a ball before it went out in the corner and sent it back to Ryan Johnson, whose header almost found Soolsma before he was tied up by a defender in the box.
Johnson sent a header wide in the 30th after a long free kick by Frings.
Toronto goalie Milos Kocic was finally called into action in the 34th minute, parrying an Omar Cummings' shot.
Referee Mark Kadlecik waved off Toronto appeals for a penalty in the 67th when Eckersley went down in the box.
