VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps made sure history didn't repeat itself.
Cristian Techera scored twice and Octavio Rivero and Pa-Modou Kah added goals of their own Saturday as the Whitecaps thumped undermanned Real Salt Lake 4-0.
Vancouver head coach Carl Robinson was an assistant on Martin Rennie's staff back in September 2013 when Salt Lake came into B.C. Place Stadium with a second-string squad and won 1-0 to deal the Whitecaps' playoff hopes a critical blow.
Now in his second year at the helm, Robinson hasn't forgotten that bitter defeat and used it as motivation in this one.
"It still irks me now," said the Welshman. "They came and they changed their total lineup and they got their noses in front ... (and we) couldn't get back into the game. Things like that wind me up."
Vancouver led 2-0 at halftime on Saturday, but Robinson wasn't happy with the performance and reiterated the pain of that loss two years ago once again at the break.
"There was a lot of things said. I thought we were sloppy in the first half," said Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted, who picked up his ninth clean sheet. "I thought we played poorly, but we were up 2-0 and that was the positive. Second half we showed that we can be professional."
With the win, Vancouver (13-8-3) stretched its lead atop Major League Soccer's Western Conference standings to four points ahead of idle FC Dallas and tied a franchise mark for victories in a season with 10 games still remaining.
The Whitecaps went with the same starting 11 that played in last weekend's 3-0 road victory over Seattle after fielding a completely different lineup in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with the Sounders at B.C. Place in CONCACAF Champions League play.
On the other hand, Salt Lake (7-9-8) dressed a number veterans in Tuesday's 1-0 away win over a Guatemalan side in the Champions League, but left many of the club's senior players out against Vancouver with the domestic U.S. Open Cup semifinal at Sporting Kansas City set for Wednesday.
"It was difficult," said Robinson. "(Salt Lake head coach Jeff Cassar) decided to rotate his lineup and leave a couple of his bigger players at home ... it was a trap game for us, but we took care of business."
Vancouver, which improved to 6-4-1 at home, swept the three-game season series with Real, a perennial contender currently sitting on the outside of the playoff picture.
Rivero opened the scoring in the seventh minute after being taken down in the penalty area and sent Salt Lake goalkeeper Jeff Attinella the wrong way from the spot for his ninth goal of the campaign.
Kah, usually known for his no-nonsense defending rather than his finishing, added his third goal of the season and third in two games in the 40th minute on a tap-in after some great work by Kekuta Manneh.
The 35-year-old Kah scored twice in Vancouver's victory over Seattle last weekend and again celebrated with some interesting dance moves after recording just a single goal over the last two years while with the Portland Timbers.
"You can see he's got an enthusiasm about him because he is getting older," Robinson said with a smile. "When he scores it's great because the guys are really pleased with him and pleased for him. It's just the dance moves.
"The dance moves are very, very poor."
Techera made it 3-0 in the 50th minute from a tight angle off a great ball from Jordan Harvey and added his second in the 68th on a shot from distance for his fourth of the season.
Techera nearly got a third in the 90th minute, but Attinella stood his ground to keep the damage at 4-0.
"(Techera's) a terrific young player," Robinson said. "He was the best player on the field for me today."
