Harbinger Of Glory

--

”Exquisite twist and turn. Piroe is down, and Leo Calderon has just made a fool of him,” the commentator said, and you could hear it in his voice, the delight that commentary tries to keep professional and doesn’t always manage.

”The Wigan fans are on their feet, and this boy is running with the ball and—”

Under the chants of the fans, Leo hugged the touchline like a right-footed winger, dribbling the ball with short touches, but out of his peripheral vision, Harry Darling arrived like a freight train.

Leo tried to slow down, but the mass and momentum caught him from the side in the next second and drove him off the pitch entirely, leaving the teenager’s boots outside the turf as he went over the touchline and into the managerial area, landing in Dawson’s technical square.

The DW turned as the noise shifted from sudden joy to something cursed.

”Is he trying to kill him?” a fan called out towards the pitch, where the referee had deemed the challenge okay and waved the game on.

Darling collected the ball and passed it calmly into his own half, while on the sides, Dawson was already moving forward, crouching down toward Leo with a hand out.

”You alright?”

Leo looked up at him and nodded once.

He got to his feet, stepped back over the line and rejoined the game, and the DW, seeing him up, gave him everything they had left in the tank.

”That won’t stop him!”

”He’s been through shit!”

”That won’t stop him!”

”You’ve asked for it!”

”OOOOooohh, Leo, do your thing!”

”Swansea haven’t got a King!”

”They laud him,” came the commentary, ”But they might have to do it louder because it’s just 6 till the ninety! If Wigan have anything to say, now might be the time to do it.”

...

”I’m getting nervous watching, so how must he be feeling while playing?” confessed Mia as she looked at her brother running up and down the pitch.

”This really isn’t good for my heart,” she said as she scrunched up the chest of the Wigan shirt she had on with the name, ’Calderon’ at the back.

After saying that, she looked to her right and glanced at the dark-haired girl also in a Wigan shirt with Calderon at the back!

”Does he know you are here?” she asked, but all Vittoria did was shake her head.

”It was going to be a surprise,” she mumbled, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough, she continued while her gaze began alternating between the scoreboard with the time beside it.

”Come on, Mijo,” Sofia muttered, but Swansea still kept the ball, refusing to let up or let Wigan even get a whiff of the ball.

....

89’

”Time is running out”, the commentary prayed.

”This might be the end of it for Wigan.”

....

”Come on, guys, let’s work it,” Leo called after one of the Swansea players went down, grabbing his knee, causing a break in play.

Some of the players nodded, but it was getting harder and harder to believe.

”Daws,” Leo muttered after walking to the sidelines.

Dawson raised a brow before pointing his chin at Leo.

”We’ve got to do something,” Leo muttered, to which Dawson knew, but with the red card handicapping them, it was going to be hard to do anything except pray.

”Have you got something in mind?” Dawson suddenly questioned, since he knew Leo might have some idea if he was suggesting they change something.

”Put me at the front,” Leo suddenly muttered, causing Dawson’s eyes to widen before they returned to their normal form.

”We haven’t gotten width, so we need to stop sending balls to the flanks. Ezra has been useless since he came on, but putting me behind him at the front or with him would be better if we go narrow.”

Dawson nodded at the argument, feeling it made sense and felt he should have thought about that.

”He’s fast,” Leo continued to convince, even though the Dawson was already.

”One through ball from him and he’s in!”

From the far side of the pitch, Ezra watched Leo talk to Dawson since the latter had been pointing towards him while talking with the manager, and Ezra couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about.

He didn’t have to wonder too long, though, because in the next moment, Dawson raised his hand and waved him over, but midway, he began waving all his players over, while the referee, on the other hand, glanced at them but was too focused on getting the player on the ground back to his feet.

”Listen, guys,” Dawson said as his men surrounded him.

”Leo and Ezra are going up top!”

Those words made the faces of some of the players scrunch up, wondering what their manager was saying.

”It will take too long to explain, but just know that we are going narrow. Leo will be playing in a front two with Ezra, and I need you to support them, especially you,” he said, pointing at Fletcher.

”The rest will stay in the middle with Tiehi to back up the defence.”

It was getting clearer for the players, but at the same time, confusing.

Still, what else could they do other than to trust the manager?

The players split off while Leo turned and nodded towards Dawson before moving up the pitch, causing a few voices in the crowd to rise.

”Well, what do we have here?” the commentary noted as Leo and Ezra both settled just above the Swansea backline.

”It’s a tactical change from Dawson, a sort of last-ditch effort in the dying embers of the game, but will that be it. I doubt it, but we will have to wait until the final whistle!”

The Wigan crowd watched on, not really getting what Dawson was trying to do, but they accepted it, knowing there was a reason he was on the touchline and they were not.

The game restarted with a drop ball, which finally saw Swansea cede possession for the first time in 6 minutes.

The Wigan players linked up play, giving out short passes and rotating, but the absence of the man down showed as a tactic that should have worked, strained under the press of Swansea’s extra man.

Still, they didn’t falter and kept passing around.

Leo up top got a bit impatient.

”Is this how Fletcher feels?” he muttered as he itched to get the ball, but it never looked like it was coming.

And to make matters worse, the fourth official appeared by the touchline and only showed three minutes of added time.

That even got the crowd rowdy, but they knew they needed to focus their energy elsewhere.

Leo knew it too, and so when Tiehi got the ball, he stepped past Fletcher, who was close to the centre half and called for the ball.

Immediately, like instinct, Tiehi let the ball fly.

He was immediately swarmed, but Leo chested the ball before doing enough to flick it past the crowd.

”He’s away now, is it Wigan’s?” the commentary roared as Leo kept the ball under his feet before glancing down and in the next second, he could see it.

Space!