LA Galaxy 3 Portland Timbers 0

Back at full strength with Beckham and Donovan back in the side, LA gave The Timbers a lesson in attacking football. Chad Barrett opened the scoring with a magnificent effort set up by the combination of Beckham and Donovan. Teeing his own volley by bouncing the ball off his shoulder, Barrett gave the keeper no chance from the edge of the box.

Just 3 minutes later, Donovan is fouled in the box and converts the penalty ending his personal goal-drought.

It's half an hour on the clock before Ricketts has a save to make, demonstrating how LA are dominating this game. Magee has a good left-foot effort saved before the break, and Galaxy go in 2-0 up at half-time.

Gonzalez has a header from a Beckham corner saved on the line, and Donovan doubles his tally with a header from Angel on 67 minutes. Although the game is up for Portland, they show some fighting spirit and Ricketts is called into action twice during a 10 minute spell between 70 and 80 mins - once saving with his hand, once with his foot from point blank range.

Despite Portlands best efforts, The Galaxy pull off a rare complete shut-out and end the game 3-0 up.

Chicago Fire 1 LA Galaxy 2

With a depleted squad, Galaxy managed a goal in each half, one on 42 mins from Chad Barrett (an ex-employee of The Fire), and one on 72 mins from Gonzalez. Barrett had earlier had one disallowed on 35 mins, but generally there were chances at either end throughout the match.

In the 89th minute, Chicago pulled one back, but they had left it too late for getting any points out of the game, so The Galaxy come off their three-game 'tour' with 5 points out of a possible 9, and are looking in good shape to remain in the upper echelons of the league table. Technically, this result takes LA to the top of the table, but with the number of games 'in hand' that other teams have (especially Real Salt Lake with the same number of points and three games in hand!), the table is not really representative of reality at the moment.

Saturday sees The Galaxy return to their home ground to take on the Portland Timbers - Beckham should be back, maybe Donovan too, time for the experienced players to put a good shift in!

Toronto 0 Galaxy 0

Beckham's first visit to Toronto as a Galaxy player proved uneventful, Landon Donovan didn't even appear on the bench, and was sorely missed on the pitch. For the Galaxy's part, they hit the post three times (once from a Beckham free-kick) - and drew a good save from the keeper in the opening minutes. Ricketts was hardly busier in the Galaxy goal pulling out two decent saves from very close range.

Not quite so many bookings as the last outing nonetheless, Juninho got himself sent off, and Beckham added to his impressive tally of yellow cards which means he misses the next game - hopefully Donovan will be back next week, there was doubt about his knee before this match.

LA are now third in the Western Conference on the same points as second-placed Colorado Rapids, both three points behind league leaders Real Salt Lake who have a perfect four wins out of four with two games in hand over the Galaxy and one game over the Rapids.

Next game Sunday against Chicago Fire, but Beckham is suspended and will next be available for the Timbers game on April 23rd.

DC United 1 LA Galaxy 1

From the start of this game, Galaxy looked comfortable taking on DC United away from home. After some positive LA pressure, it was a Beckham corner that provided the chance for Mike Magee to head home the first goal for the visitors. Beckham wears the captains armband tonight, something we have not seen since he showed a preference for AC Milan.

United had a chance to draw level after a Dunivant badly-time tackle earned him a yellow card. The resulting free kick was lofted high towards the Galaxy goal mouth, but the shot was wayward - after 30 minutes Ricketts has hardly been tested in the Galaxy goal.

The game starts to get a little tetchy and tackles are flying in, Beckham gets himself another booking (fourth of the season) for a tackle that takes man and ball, although the 'man' in question helped by taking a dive suggestive of a sniper shot through the head in a bad movie. Minutes later, the cameras spot a lot of blood seeping through one of Beckhams' socks, but he continues to use both feet to good effect, and the first half closes out with The Galaxy holding on to their one-goal lead.

Beckham initially looks uncomfortable in the opening minutes of the second half, but soon settles into the rhythm in the more central role that he has occupied for the last few games.

On 52 mins, DC try to change things by bringing on an attacking substitute, 67 mins and Ricketts comes flying out to make a vital challenge outside the box, a rare scare for LA.

74 mins and The Galaxy bring on Cordozo for Lopez as DC line up for a corner - the corner is only just cleared off the line and LA continue to hold on to their narrow lead. For the first time in the match, DC are stringing passes together and starting to look like a threat.

With 10 minutes to go, David Beckham is substituted as LA peg DC back and have a few decent chances of their own. Quaranta, the DC captain leaves his foot in a challenge and is dismissed for a second booking. Despite the man-advantage of LA, DC continue to press and are rewarded with a penalty on 88 minutes. Substitute Charlie Davies steps up to score and level the game as Juan Pablo Angel is substituted for The Galaxy. Four minutes of extra time are added, and The Galaxy spurn a chance to go ahead shooting high over the bar from just a few yards. The game finishes, and the Galaxy players express their annoyance with the referee for awarding the penalty. Nonetheless, this is not a bad result for the first of three games on the road for the Galaxy, and you have to credit DC for their stamina to find an opening so close to the end of the game with only ten men on the pitch.

NEXT GAME: WEDNESDAY against FC TORONTO

LA Galaxy 1 Philadelphia Union 0

Donovan Ricketts back into the starting line up after injury, Landon Donovan back after international duty. After good pressure from the Galaxy, it was a David Beckham set piece that gave Leonardo the opportunity to head home for the first and only goal of the game shortly after the half-hour mark. Just a minute or so later, Beckham had a shot of his own from distance saved by the scrambling Philadelphia goalkeeper.

On balance it looked like The Galaxy were worth their lead as they went into the tunnel for the end of the first half.

The second half was going to be all about the referee in the worst possible way. Referees do best when they make good firm decisions and nip any unwanted behaviour in the bud. This one did not... he gave Birchall a straight red for an off the ball incident, then seemed to waver a little and book the opposing offender (Ruiz) for the same altercation - one of those where you think if they're both at fault, why is only one sent off?

This was only the tip of this particular iceberg, as from minute 51 to minute 90, the ref also booked:

Lopez (LA), Ricketts (LA), Williams (PHI), Harvey (PHI) Califf (PHI) Beckham AND Donovan... such was the lack of control exercised by the ref, that the game culminated in a free-for-all scrap on 90 minutes at which the ref produced yet another red card to finish of a half of eight bookings and two dismissals...

Never mind the bookings, LA were delighted to close out the game as winners on home turf extinguishing some of the disappointment of last week. Beckham has his second assist of the season, this time playing in a more central mid-field role, and will be looking for goals to add to those assists soon.