The hooves are finally thundering as the Calgary Mustangs appear to have hit their stride.

Further proof of the A-League soccer club's turnaround came yesterday in the form of a 1-1 draw against the Western Conference-leading Portland Timbers at McMahon Stadium.

With the tie, the 'Stangs remain unbeaten in their last four, going 2-0-2 in a stretch against strong competition.

"We stayed the course with what we were trying to accomplish. We have 13 or 14 players now who are playing. We didn't get sidetracked by negative results," said Calgary head coach Thomas Niendorf.

Calgary struck first yesterday on a goal from Walter Otta in the 27th minute after midfielder Steffen Holdt found his teammate alone in the box.

Otta, an Argentinian, made no mistake on the easy goal.

But Portland (15-7-1) started pressing in the second half and was rewarded with the tying goal in the 72nd minute -- a nice header by Fadi Afash.

Overtime settled nothing but Otta had a great chance to end it late in the second extra session on a partial breakaway but his shot went high and wide as he couldn't control the bouncing ball.

Calgary 'keeper Lutz Pfannenstiel had another solid game, making several great saves, including one with three minutes left in overtime on Dan Antoniuk, who broke in alone down the left side.

Pfannenstiel challenged him, just getting his outstretched hands on Antoniuk's close-range shot.

Like Niendorf, the Mustangs goalie firmly believes the team has got over the hump.

"The pieces are falling together and I think we're actually looking forward to next season already and doing better things than we did this year," said Pfannenstiel.

The Mustangs (4-14-5) head off for a two-game road trip starting tomorrow night in the provincial capital against Team Edmonton, then they'll travel to Portland for a rematch against the Timbers Thursday.