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PORTLAND — Backs against the wall with another lineup adjusted by injuries and absences, the Portland Hearts of Pine pulled off one of the most thrilling outcomes in the team’s two-year history.

Portland tied the game on a goal by Aboubacar Camara in the 62nd minute and took the lead when JayTee Kamara scored from Matteo Kidd in the 79th minute to beat second-place Spokane Velocity 2-1 in an USL League One game on Saturday evening.

“It’s a big moment for the club, to hopefully get things turned around,” said Portland coach Bobby Murphy.

It was a rematch of the 2025 USL1 semifinal in Spokane, with the Velocity ending Portland’s inaugural season, 2-2 (6-5 in penalty kicks).

Portland improved to 3-2-5 in USL1 and is 2-0-2 in its last four matches, including a win in the USL Cup against USL Championship side Rhode Island FC.

But injuries and ties that could have — probably should have — been wins in front of the home Fitzpatrick Stadium fans have made the start of Year Two in Hearts-land difficult.

“Listen, if we’re honest, there hasn’t been a lot to smile about so at halftime it could have really gone either way. I give the players all the credit,” Murphy said. “For them to be able to fight back and get the result, to be able to smile, and kind of shake some of the burden off.”

Spokane (6-2-2) entered in second place in the league standings with three consecutive wins.

In contrast, Portland was coming off a week where two vital players underwent knee surgeries. Striker Titus Washington is expected to be out four months. Midfielder Mikey Lopez will miss six-to-eight weeks.

“It’s tough. We want Titus and Mikey on the pitch week-in and week-out. What can we say? We just have to keep going and do our best,” Kamara said.

In addition, Hearts center midfielder Michel Poon-Angeron was called up to join the Trinidad & Tobago international squad in a friendly against Korea played in Utah on Saturday. Poon-Angeron is expected to be back for a USL1 match at Corpus Christi on Wednesday, then will fly to Russia to rejoin the Trinidad & Tobago team.

That meant top scorer Ollie Wright took the captain’s band, which Poon-Angeron has worn in Lopez’s absence, and center back Kemali Green was moved up to the central holding midfield position.

Green helped to turn what had been a slow, disjointed attack in the first half into a crisper unit that was making connections. He completed 35 of 37 passes and increasingly looked to move forward. He initiated Kamara’s winning goal with a cross-field pass that Kamara collected and then began a give-and-go with Kidd, that ended with Kamara blasting a shot into the top left corner.

Kamara, normally a wing forward, was also in a new position, playing the attacking midfielder that was the domain of Masashi Wada, who went out with a season-ending injury in the home opener. Since then that position has been a bit of a revolving door.

Murphy said Kamara was tried in part because “we’re running out of bodies.” It also put the clever ball handler with a strong shot in more of a two-way attacking area.

Kamara said he remembered the way last season ended. In the semifinal loss he had put Portland ahead two minutes into overtime with a goal, only to have Spokane tie it up in the 122nd minute.

“We want this game so bad,” Kamara said. “The first half we were just moving the ball slowly. In the second half we just came in and did our best.”

Hunter Morse was again strong in Portland’s net with six saves, including two one-handed reaction stops in the first half. But Morse couldn’t save everything.

In first-half extra time, Shavon John-Brown Jr., flicked in a header off a soft cross from Joe Gallardo that cleared center back Brecc Evans and went right onto Brown’s head to give Spokane a 1-0 lead.

Spokane nearly scored another extra-time goal in the second half but Serigne Mbacke Faye, making his sixth start of the season for Portland, cleared out a ball that was headed into the goal with his left foot.

NOTES: It was Portland’s 24th consecutive Fitzpatrick Stadium sellout with an announced crowd of 6,256. … Entering the game, only Wright had scored more than two goals, with six goals and four assists. Both Camara and Kamara scored their second goal of the season. … Left back Josh Drack also had a defensive save on a Spokane shot in the first half. … The Hearts will be on the road for six days, flying to Texas on Tuesday, playing winless Corpus Christi (0-5-5, minus-11 goal differential) at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. The club will stay in the Lone Star state until heading to Brooklyn FC for the next round of the USL Cup at 3 p.m. Sunday.