Hearts Welcome Tormenta Four Days After First Home Loss
“We can’t be made of crystal, we got to be made of plastic. We can’t fracture at these moments. We got to come together, be plastic, bounce back. We’ll see what we’re made of.”
Portland Hearts of Pine are looking forward to returning to the field on Sunday, four days after they suffered their first-ever loss at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Hearts were 3-0-1 at Fitzy before AV Alta FC recorded a 2-0 win on Wednesday.
The visitors were efficient, scoring on two of their three shots on target. Jerry Desdunes scored in the 39th minute before Walmer Martinez struck in the 77th.
The loss comes on the heels of two positive results in league play.
Hearts went down 1-0 at home against Union Omaha before scoring three unanswered goals in the second half to collect full points. One week later, they traveled across the country to earn a 1-1 draw against Alta in a game that Murphy called “the best we played all year.”
After Wednesday’s loss, Murphy noted that more movement is needed, regardless of the conditions.
“We talked about it at halftime, it’s hot, it’s muggy,” Murphy said. “Fatigue makes cowards of us all. You get a little tired, you get a little uncomfortable, and then we start standing around.”
He later added, “I’ve said it over and over, we have to become nastier. We have to become more ruthless.”
Hearts did have more shots (16 to 8) and shots on target (6 to 3). With this in mind, some might call Wednesday’s result unlucky.
Murphy doesn’t subscribe to that.
“Dick Hall, who we will give a big shout out to, played for the Dallas Tornado [and he] coached me when I was a kid. He had an old saying: ‘You make your own luck.’ So we say unlucky, but that’s sort of like a cop out, right? You make your own luck.”
Besides a busy schedule loaded with travel, Hearts have had to deal with a host of injuries and absences. This is a source of frustration because, as Murphy puts it, “we can’t get our best group on the field ever, it feels like.”
“Michel [Poon-Angeron] gets his hand stepped on, and it breaks some metatarsal that if it gets dislodged again, he’s going to need hand surgery. If he breaks a different bone in his hand, he’s playing,” Murphy explained. “Azaad [Liadi] twists funny and pulls something.”
Still, Murphy believes the players he had could’ve beaten Alta.
Hearts won’t dwell on the loss for long, as South Georgia Tormenta FC come to Portland on Sunday.
Murphy is looking forward to seeing how his team responds.
“We can’t be made of crystal, we got to be made of plastic,” Murphy said. “We can’t fracture at these moments. We got to come together, be plastic, bounce back. We’ll see what we’re made of.”
JayTee Kamara, who was inches away from scoring on Wednesday, said the young group needs to “keep learning” and “keep our heads up.”
This will lead to them rewarding Hearts fans with positive results at home.
“We have to win, because they came out here to support us,” Kamara said “They're giving their all. We have to give our all as well to make them happy. We’re going to keep going and Sunday we’re going to give them the result they deserve.”