Photo by Kelley L. Cox/USA TODAY Sports

By EVAN REAM

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It wasn’t exactly a memorable way to close the Buck Shaw Stadium chapter of the San Jose Earthquakes history, but it certainly felt fitting.

The Quakes quietly drew the Vancouver Whitecaps, 0-0, in front of a sold-out home crowd on Saturday, in what should be their last match until they open a new 18,000-seat stadium next year. The Quakes probably won’t mind not returning to Buck Shaw as they closed out their dismal 2014 by setting a club record for consecutive matches without a win.

The match held major playoff implications for the Whitecaps, though. They entered Saturday’s match even with the Portland Timbers on points, albeit with a game in hand, on the bubble of playoff position. With the result, the Canadian side moved to a one-point lead over their Pacific Northwest rivals with one game left to play.

“It was a trap game for us, it really was. They had nothing to lose,” said Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson. “Obviously they replaced the manager so Ian’s come in. The players are fighting for contracts. We’ve got everything to lose because of the 32 games we’ve had prior to this. It was a trap game. I just said to the group in there, for me, this is as important of a result as it was in Seattle last Friday.”

The biggest moment in the match came 15 minutes from time when substitute Darren Mattocks played speedy winger Kekutah Manneh in on goal. Diminutive Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch made himself as big as possible, saving the young player’s point-blank shot with his chest for his only save of the night.

Overseeing the contest for the Earthquakes was former player and assistant coach Ian Russell, who was given the interim head coach tag when Mark Watson left the team after San Jose announced the hiring of incoming head coach and current Houston Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear.

The Caps came out the stronger of the two sides in the bland affair, controlling the lion’s share of the possession, but failing to provide the final ball they needed to open the scoring.

While playing most of their team behind the ball, the Earthquakes were content to try to hit their Canadian opponent on the counter through speedy attackers Shea Salinas and Yannick Djalo.

Designated Player Chris Wondolowski nearly took advantage of these counters on two different occasions, but he was thwarted both times by Whitecaps keeper David Ousted who stayed in the game despite an early injury scare as the netminder injured his head while clearing a San Jose corner kick.

It seemed like neither side could get near the target as shots, mostly from outside the box, were consistently rifled into the stands – there were just 4 shots on target the entire match.

“I am (happy with the result) because we’re in control of what we do which is what I’ve said all along, maybe five, six games ago,” Robinson said. “We go into the last game of the season knowing we need to get a result to take us to where we want to get to, so I’m pleased.”

With a win next week against the struggling Colorado Rapids, the Whitecaps can book their ticket to the playoffs for the second time in three years.

The Portland Timbers face FC Dallas in their final game and will need a result as well as results in that Whitecaps game to go their way to garner the final postseason berth.

Here are the match highlights: