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Things looked bleak for the Portland Hearts of Pine.

Then Ollie Wright happened.

The 26-year-old attacking midfielder from London scored three consecutive goals in the second half. It was the first three-goal performance in the first-year franchise’s history, just the third perfect hat trick in USL League One history and plenty to propel the Hearts past a lackluster first half and to a 3-1 win over Union Omaha on Sunday night in front of an announced crowd of 5,703 at frenzied Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“Incredible. The most important thing is the three points (for the win) but obviously on an individual note a super special night for me,” Wright said. “To score three goals is a special night for me.”

Wright scored his first goal in the 48th minute with a left foot shot from just above the end line that found the right panel. His second, after being sent in off a beautiful through ball from Michel Poon-Angeron, was a right-footer to the same spot in the 73rd minute that further ignited the crowd that coach Bobby Murphy noted had been “anxious” and quiet in the first half as Portland was being pushed around — at times literally — and outshot 10-1 while falling behind 1-0.

“We just were lacking that self-belief. We were kind of passive in our performance,” Poon-Angeron said of the first half. “Playing sideways, backwards, and turning the ball over in silly areas. In the second half we came out with confidence, we came out with vigor. We turned the most amazing fan base in the league against us in the first half, so we had to win them back over.”

On his first two goals, Wright got behind the defense and had Omaha defenders scrambling, forcing goalkeeper Cole Jensen to flash toward the left post for an attempted block.

Wright sealed the win in the 80th minute with a rip from long distance that curled inside the right post.

“That last one was my favorite. It was one of them where it was just a hit and hope to be honest with you. I’d already gotten the two so the confidence was high,” Wright said.

The last time Wright scored three goals in a game?

“I was about six. It’s been a long time,” Wright said.

Portland improved to 2-2-5 in the league (5-4-5 overall) and jumped into a ninth-place tie with Union Omaha (3-5-2) with 11 points.

The Hearts of Pine continued to lead USL League One in average attendance at 5,713 fans per game, more than 1,200 above the league average. Sunday’s crowd was the fourth straight sellout.

Where Portland needed a win, though, was on the new artificial pitch it paid to install at the venerable city-owned stadium. Portland entered its ninth game in a 30-game league schedule in 13th place in the 14-team league. Union Omaha, coming off a 1-0 win against Greenville Triumph on Thursday, was in ninth. Eight teams make the playoffs. The clubs had played to a 2-2 tie in Omaha earlier in the season. Plus, Portland was going to be away from Fitzy, where they had gone 2-0-1 in their first three matches, for two weeks starting Saturday with a cross-country trip to Lancaster, California, to play AV Alta FC.

But Portland was not close to its best in the first half.

“Let’s be honest. This was a big game,” Murphy said. “To pick up three points at home was imperative and I think that got to us a little bit.”

After the first six minutes, Omaha used its physical size to consistently win contested balls. Watching Hearts’ 5-foot-3 midfielder Jay Tee Kamara going against Union Omaha’s twin 6-3 players, chippy midfielder and team captain Max Schneider and left back Anderson Holt, was a Mutt-and-Jeff cartoon come to life.

As Omaha missed the net on three good bids after Hunter Morse (six saves) had knocked down a Dion Acoff shot from close range, it felt like the only question was when Omaha would score first.

The goal came in the 37th minute on a transition play.

Charlie Ostrem made a lengthy dribble run up the left side. His pass went to burly striker Pato Botello Faz. Despite being on the seat of his pants, Faz played a pass back to Ostrem, who touched it forward to Acoff. In a 1-on-1 chance against Morse with time, Acoff slipped a sure shot into goal.

“Obviously Bobby came in at halftime and ripped us a new one, to put it lightly,” Wright said. “We know we’re better than that. We know we need to come out of the tracks a bit faster. We’re lucky to play in front of five, six thousand people and we need to use that to our advantage and we really didn’t do that the first half.”