Head Coach Adrian Heath
On the match at Real Salt Lake…
“When you’re two [goals] up away from home you concede in the 95th, 96th minute, it feels like a loss. But as I said to the players, it’s not a loss. It’s another positive on the road. That’s been good this year: Not only our performances but our points total has been excellent on the road. If we can replicate our normal home form, that will bode well for the second half of the season.”
On Emanuel Reynoso’s performance…
“He’s had a couple of cameos before it and he’d come on and turned the game. Thought he was outstanding in the first half. I think the biggest compliment to come was talking to their [Real Salt Lake] staff after, they were thinking of changing their shape which has worked so well for them recently because he was the difference maker in the first half. He kept finding these little pickpockets of space in behind their midfield and when he does that, he’s very, very dangerous.”
On approaching more home games in the second half of the season…
“I’ve said this before: I think our performances have warranted a bigger points total than we’ve got. The one constant has been our home form hasn’t been what it normally is. We have to change, and if we do, we give ourselves a really good opportunity of making it five playoffs on the trot. If we do, we’ll be a problem because with the players that we’re hoping to bring in – [Teemu] Pukki’s coming in, can he get those goals? We have three games where we had 58 opportunities… that’s incredible.
On possible squad rotation into the Portland Timbers game Saturday…
“Well, ideally, you would like the full week's build up, but we knew this was coming. So, we'll plan accordingly with the minutes that we give everybody. But you know, let's get Wednesday out the way and then we'll start concentrating on Portland. Games are generally very, very tight. We've done well against them, home and away, over the last few years. But, the one thing I know about them is they've got an abundance of talent, and we can't treat them lightly. And as I always say, to win a game in the MLS, we have to play well. And that's what we'll have to do this weekend.”
On if the Timbers will enter the game with revenge on their mind following the match in Portland last time between these two sides…
“They've done it to us in the past. It swings in roundabouts. But as I've said, we've generally had a good record against them. But they've never been easy games. We've had to work for everything we've got. And we'll have to do that on Saturday.”
Forward Cameron Dunbar
On takeaways from the Real Salt Lake match last weekend…
“Yeah, like you said, a point, we'll take the point. But we know, we definitely should have taken all three. It's frustrating, because we've had a couple of matches like that, throughout the season, where we feel we should have taken more. It's always a gut punch to give up a goal like that in the last minute of the match. So you know, we take it on the chin. And this week, we've got to look internally, look at ourselves and know that that's not good enough, we have to close out games better, we have to win those points. Because, we're getting to that point in the season where every single moment matters, every single play on the pitch matters. We can't let up and especially not at the end of the match; we have to make sure we close out games, make tackles, make plays, whether it's keeping the ball or making the right decision and the heat of the moment. We need to be better in those areas. And I'm sure I'm sure our guys will watch the film, take it to heart and be better because we all want to win games. We want to win these games, we want to be better. We want to win for the club. We're looking to close out the second half of the season with much more points than we took in the first half. So, we're going to be making that a big effort to close out these close games that we're in.”
On the keys to getting a second win over Portland on Saturday…
“It'll be about keeping ourselves in the game, not giving the opponent easy opportunities. It comes from us. We want to be focused, we want to be ready as soon as the first whistle blows to go out and fight for 90-plus minutes. And, whether it be in our own box making plays or in the opposition's box making plays, we've got to make sure we don't take our foot off the gas at all. We have to keep going, have to keep pushing, have to keep fighting for opportunities. I think that's the biggest thing we need to go into in the weekend.”
