View 9 photos

PORTLAND — The Portland Hearts of Pine had no problem creating chances in their USL League One match against the Richmond Kickers on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Capitalizing on those chances, however, turned out to be a problem.

Despite an advantage in possession and controlling the pace of play for a majority of the 95-minute match, Portland ended the evening with no goals to show for it.

“When (defenders) sit deep, there’s a tendency to want to play in front of them,” Hearts of Pine manager Bobby Murphy said after Portland’s 0-0 draw. “You’ve got to keep getting behind them and turning the corner and causing them to face their own goal, and I don’t think we did a good enough job of that.

“That’s why possession’s the most misleading stat in the game, right?”

This was Portland’s third scoreless draw of the season.

Portland moves to 4-4-9 in USL League One play, 7-7-9 overall. The Hearts of Pine have earned points in six of its last seven USL1 matches. Portland won an international friendly against Halifax on Wednesday, 2-1. Official attendance for Saturday’s match was 5,796.

Richmond moves to 4-9-5, earning its first point in USL1 competition since a win over Union Omaha on June 25.

“It’s frustrating because I feel like we dropped two points today,” Hearts of Pine captain Mikey Lopez said. “I feel like we should have won today, and it’s getting to that point of the season where you can’t afford to keep drawing at home. We’ve made home a really tough place to play, but we can’t find wins. I mean, the good thing is we’re not losing at home, so that’s the positive thing.”

Portland has next week off before hosting Spokane Velocity in a USL1 match on Aug. 17. The Velocity sit comfortably near the top of the playoff table and the Hearts of Pine are on the bubble. Portland and Spokane played to a scoreless draw on April 5 in Spokane, Washington.

Jay Tee Kamara gave the Hearts their first chance in the 15th minute, intercepting a slow pass about 25 yards in front of the goal, and sending a shot from outside the top of the box. Richmond’s Pablo Jara saved the shot. The Hearts had three more shots over the next 10 minutes — one by Kamara and two by midfielder Ollie Wright — that sailed by the left post. 

Dirigo Union, the Hearts of Pine’s faithful supporter section, did celebrate one goal Saturday, but unfortunately it didn’t count. An extra ball found its way onto the pitch during the 18th minute, so Wright sent a cheeky roller into the back of the net.

Wright had the Hearts’ clearest opportunity to score in the 55th minute, after receiving a feed in the middle of the box from Nathan Messer on the left side. Wright took a gather touch, before chipping the ball outside the right post.

Kamara drew a yellow card in the 79th minute resulting in a free kick in the middle of the field about 20 yards out, but Wright’s strike went straight into the defensive wall. Portland had a handful of shots in the final 15 minutes of play that either went wide or were blocked.

“It’s something that we’ve been working on,” Lopez said. “I think it’s something that (we’re) trying to get more numbers into the box. Bobby’s always preaching, not having possession for possession sake, and I think we just got to keep sticking to that mantra. It’s just trying to keep tightening the screws on the team, trying to put more balls inside the box, try and get more numbers inside the box and hopefully, try and force something into the net.”

Portland struggled to put a ball on target until Messer smacked a shot from the left side off the crossbar in the 88th minute.

Richmond took one shot in the first half, but opened the second half with urgency on attack. Hunter Morse made three key second-half saves for the Hearts of Pine to keep the game scoreless.

Shortly after being subbed on for Portland, Sean Vinberg was booked in the 68th minute for a yellow card on a tackle. The initial free kick from 25 yards out knocked down Richmond’s Chandler O’Dwyer, but the rebound was collected and one-touched outside the box by Ryan Baer. Morse punched the screamer over the back of the net, and then gathered a Marcelo Lage head shot on the ensuing corner kick.

Richmond looked to make a final push in regulation but an offsides call in the 81st minute and a defensive smothering in the lower right corner of the goal forced the Kickers to come out empty-handed.