Portland break Red Wolves' hearts
Win in East Ridge sees them advance to Semi-Final
EAST RIDGE, Tn. — A 55th minute Ollie Wright goal was ultimately the difference as Portland Hearts of Pine scored a massive, smash-and-grab win in Tennessee on Saturday evening, to advance to the USL League One Playoff Semi-Final.
The game saw a man-of-the-match performance from Hearts’ 27-year-old goalkeeper who made nine saves including an outstanding diving stop on 23 minutes to deny Greyson Mercer. He saved Portland’s bacon right at the death too, saving from Matthew Bentley six minutes into added time.
On a night when Chattanooga, unusually, dominated chances (15 to 6) and shots on target (9 to 2), it was the visitors who would score the only goal when Englishman Wright dashed into the middle of the pitch, played a one-two with veteran Jake Keegan, and curled a delicious shot into the bottom corner past Ricardo Jérez in the Red Wolves’ goal.
While Chattanooga pushed desperately for an equalizer as the second half ticked on, they were left frustrated by some excellent defending from Nathan Messer, Séga Coulibaly, and Mo Mohamed in the Hearts’ defense. Behind them, Morse was a brick wall. The Red Wolves had 11 shot attempts in the second half, including six on target, none closer than Matthew Bentley’s header on 96 minutes that was pushed aside by Morse.
The result was a sweet one for the mass of Heart’s fans who had made the 1,200 mile journey from Maine to Tennessee to see their team in its maiden playoff game. The dedication of these 100-200 fans is a credit to their club and USL as a whole. One supporter I spoke to, Eric, told me how he had flown from Portland to DC to Chicago to get to Chattanooga. I’m sure Eric felt the expense and effort was absolutely worth it. If only all nights were like this.
Box Score
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC - Portland Hearts of Pine
USL League One
Venue: CHI Memorial Stadium | East Ridge, TN
Attendance: 2,203
Final Score: Chattanooga 0-1 Portland
Referee: Muhammad Hassan
Scoring Summary:
55’: O. Wright (PHP)
Discipline:
26’: K. Green (PHP) - foul, yellow
53’: J. Keegan (PHP) - foul, yellow
Man of the Match: Hunter Morse (PHP)
Line-ups:
Chattanooga Red Wolves (4-4-2): Ricardo Jérez; Yanis Lelin, Eric Kinzner, Declan Watters, Jordan Ayimbila; Omar Hernández, Ualefi (C), Matt Acosta, Aaron Lombardi; Pedro Hernández, Greyson Mercer
Substitutes not used: Jason Smith, Kimball Jackson, Tobi Jnohope, Joshua Ramos, Zahir Vazquez, Omar Gómez, Alhassan Alhassan, Matt Bentley
Head Coach: Scott Mackenzie
Portland Hearts of Pine (4-2-3-1): Hunter Morse; Nathan Messer, Kemali Green, Séga Coulibaly, Mo Mohamed; Mikey Lopez (C) (Patrick Langlois 64’), Michel Poon-Angeron; Ollie Wright, Jake Keegan (Azaad Liadi 64’), Nathaniel James; Titus Washington,
Substitutes not used: Kashope Oladapo, Sean Vinberg, Shandon Wright, Jay Tee Kamara, Evan Southern
Head Coach: Bobby Murphy