Head Coach Adrian Heath
On the fortitude shown by the team to keep the clean sheet…
“It’s five or six games now, where, was it one goal we’ve conceded I think? The team effort to defend the goal has been enormous, massive. Then, when we’ve needed it, [Tyler Miller] has come up with a great save. He got his fingers on the one that got out to the post. The only disappointment for the night really, was we only scored one goal. When you consider some of our attacking play, our approach play has been beautiful to watch and only one goal is probably the only disappointment.”
On Steve Clark’s performance on the night…
“Big saves but I know Niko [Hansen], [Emanuel Reynoso] and Adrien [Hunou] were really disappointed because they haven’t scored. And obviously he’s come up with big saves because that’s his job. But if we keep creating the type of chances that we’ve done in the last few games, we’ll score goals.”
On all the weird circumstances in the game…
“I think it’s just the result and the will to defend the goal. [Providence Park] is a really difficult place to come, we know that. Last couple of games we’ve had here, we’ve done well. But I think over all Jerry, it’s the attitude of the players, that’s been the pleasing thing. We spoke about, after the four defeats at the beginning of the season, we gathered the players together and said we got to get back to being a really difficult team to beat and that’s starts with defending at the front. This is not a back four issue, this is not a goalkeeping issue, this is us. This is the group. Since then, we’ve seen a lot of resolve and a lot of determination to try and keep clean sheets. Once you do that, with the attacking players that we have, we’re always going to give ourselves a chance for sure.”
On if Hunou’s goal was the fastest goal in club history…
“Well I don’t know about that. It seemed quite a bit longer to me, to be honest. Longer than two minutes and certainly a long 88 minutes after that Jerry, I gotta be honest.”
On what stood out about the goal…
“Movement. Timing of the pass. It’s easy for Franco [Fragapane] to go and have a shot from the angle he’s at but he sees Adrien [Hunou] in a great spot. But as I said to you, one thing that we’ve managed to do in the last couple of weeks is start to get some work in and around the penalty area again and a little combination plays. They’re still finding out what each other is capable of doing and that bodes well for the future. It was the movement, the timing of the passes and the weight of the passes, that was the pleasing part.”
On the difficult conditions of the heat wave on Portland…
“It was warm. Really, really warm. As I said to the players, we can’t use that as an excuse. They aren’t used to 100 degree heat here either. I didn’t want it to be one of them where we’re talking about the weather after the game and that’s what I said to the players before the game. There’s a famous expression, ‘heat makes cowards of us all,’ and I said we’re not going to use that guys.”
On MNUFC now being fifth in the West after a 0-4 start to the season…
“I knew this team was capable of that but that is was going to be a tall order to go on the sort of run that we’ve gone on. But I did know that this group, and I’ve said it all along, this group is capable of winning games, home or away against anybody. We’ve got too much quality not to be in games. We’ve got a big game now at home. We’ve got to make the most of the last couple away games on the road, we’ve done well, now we need to make sure that we finish the job off at home on Saturday because if we’re to get another win there, it probably puts us up even further on the table. Through the hard work of the players, it’s put us in a really good spot.”
On Tyler Miller’s performance tonight…
“He’s been outstanding since he’s come back in. We were talking about it before, I think [Eric] Durkee will tell me if I’m wrong, has he been on the losing team yet? He’s not been on the losing team since he’s been with us so long may that continue.”
On Bakaye Dibassy’s frustrations with the defense at the end of the game…
“It’s human nature that you think when you get behind the ball, you’re defending the goal but you’re not. And sometimes you’ve got to clear the ball, get out of the penalty area, you’ve got to give yourself a little bit of an opportunity to get up the field. And everybody drops back and everybody thinks that because I’m behind the ball, which there’s no good being behind the ball. You’ve got to close the ball down. Whoever the nearest man is, he has to get in people’s faces, we have to stop the crosses coming in the box. If there’s one criticism, and we briefly spoke about it, they had too many crosses at the end of the game.”
On the Minnesota sunrise he’ll see when he lands…
“That will be nice. It will be nice. As I said, the pleasing part for me Jerry is I don’t think people realize what a big week it’s been for us and the effort that the players have put in. It’s been a monumental because, as much as emotionally and mentally with the big game, the crowd behind us at home on Wednesday, so to come here, one of the most difficult places in the league, to come and get a result it’s put us in a great spot.”