Heaps: Hate to See Davies Hurt Again
- Updated: April 28, 2016
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Revolution coach Jay Heaps doesn’t like to play favorites, but if there is one player whom Heaps holds an enormous amount of admiration for, it’s veteran striker Charlie Davies. So to see Davies go down with a groin injury during the striker’s first start back from a previous knock was a tough thing for Heaps to watch during Wednesday’s 1-1 draw to Portland.
Davies suffered the injury shortly after the half-hour mark while chasing down a ball into the final third, and immediately fell to the pitch in pain before Juan Agudelo was called upon to spell him. Wednesday’s match was the first time Davies was in the XI since suffering a hamstring strain against DC during Week 2.
“You hate it to be Charlie, who I think was chomping at the bit to get a goal,” Heaps said. “He’s the one guy on our team that really has that hunger for the goal a little bit ahead of everyone else, and it was tough to see him go down.”
After the week 2 hamstring strain forced Davies to miss the following match at Philadelphia, he subsequently made a slew of substitute appearances. In a 1-1 draw vs. Toronto on Apr. 9, Heaps singled out Davies for praise following his performance off the bench, but was careful not to rush him back into the lineup at Orlando or DC.
“We’ve been inching him back, and not wanting him to do too much because – let’s be honest, he’s a new father, and he’s up a lot of hours,” Heaps said. “It’s a lot of work for him off the field.”
But after watching Davies bust his tail during training over the last few days, Heaps earmarked Wednesday’s match as the right time to reintroduce the club’s reigning goal king. And pitted against a makeshift Portland defense, Wednesday should’ve been the perfect opportunity for the Revolution striker to find the back of the net for the first time since the season opener.
Unfortunately for the hard-working forward, his night was over before he could fire a single shot on goal. While he didn’t need to be carted off the pitch, Davies was not seen in the locker room following the match, and Heaps said he was uncertain about when his no. 9 will return during his post-game press conference.
“I’m not sure how bad it is,” Heaps said. “I have not been able to go in there, but he walked off and his getting treatment right now, so we’ll see if he can turn it around.”
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