PORTLAND — The Portland Hearts of Pine just needed a chance to regroup.
Moments after play resumed from an injury break in the 75th minute of Saturday’s match against Texoma FC, the Hearts of Pine made their break at the net.
Standing on the left corner of the box, Ollie Wright dumped a short pass to Nathan Messer, who sprinted past Wright, collected the ball and shot it as hard as he could through the busy box and past keeper Javier Garcia for the only goal in a USL League One game at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
“It’s one of those things where we’ve been kind of clicking all year, and I think that was another time where our understanding was really good,” Messer said of Wright, who notched his team-high seventh assist of the year. “It looks like such a simple ball, but it’s the fact that he put it in such a perfect place, the pace of the pass was perfect.”
Portland (10-4-10) is in the midst of an eight-match unbeaten streak, dating back to Aug. 9, and has won six of its last seven.
The Hearts remained in fifth place but gained some ground in the race to host a quarterfinal playoff game as one of the league’s top four teams. Portland is 6-1-4 in USL League One matches at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Texoma FC dropped to 6-12-8.
The stoppage in play came at an opportune time for the home team as Portland had missed six shots between the 66th and 70th minutes. Titus Washington’s last shot to the top right corner was denied by Garcia with a diving save. The surge of shots came on the heels of coach Bobby Murphy’s 66th-minute double-substitution.
“Sometimes when you’re creating chances and they’re not going in, you can get frustrated and overthink things a little bit,” Wright said. “So Bobby’s message (during the stoppage) was just, ‘Stay composed, it’s going to come.’ And it did in the end.”
Messer acknowledged the team’s offensive struggles in the first half, calling it one of the worst on-the-ball performances the Hearts have had this season.
Only one of the nine first-half shot attempts, Masashi Wada’s 14th-minute chip from 25 yards, was on target.
But as the second-half unfolded, aided by a surge of energy from Murphy’s 66th-minute double substitution, Portland started to get into a groove. It only strengthened after the score.
“We’re very aware of teams trying to shorten the game once they’re here,” Messer said. “You know, it’s a tough place to come … So for us, it’s just about trying to keep up the momentum as best as we can. Staying focused, really keeping up, staying in the game mentally.”
Saturday was Portland’s second-straight 1-0 victory. It was also the fourth one-goal win during the current unbeaten streak.
“(The lead) never felt wobbly, right?” Murphy said. “There’s been moments this year we’ve been up a goal, and it feels really like, ‘Uh, I don’t know…’ and I felt pretty comfortable tonight, so I think the players deserve the credit.”
Portland debuted its “Blaze Kit”, a blaze orange camouflage design that doubles as practical outdoor safety gear, in front of another sell-out crowd (official attendance 5,781), but yellow was the more popular color of the evening.
Nine yellow cards were assessed (five to Portland, four to Texoma), including one to Messer in the fourth minute and two to the Texoma bench in the 32nd minute.
The Hearts have six matches remaining, four at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Portland plays at Union Omaha on Wednesday.