Harbinger Of Glory

Leo jogged across to take the corner and swung a dangerous ball into the area, but this time Areola was decisive.

He came through the crowd confidently and claimed it before anyone in blue and white could challenge for it.

And just like that, West Ham were away.

Areola released the ball quickly to Bowen, who barely needed a touch before switching play with a sweeping pass into Benrahma’s path.

The winger took it perfectly in stride, and suddenly there was space in front of him, Wigan’s defenders scrambling back as the counterattack gathered speed.

”OHHH!!! Wigan’s been caught off guard. West Ham have numbers here,” the commentator warned as Benrahma drove into the box and shaped to shoot.

Amos reacted instantly, committing himself to the strike, but the winger sold the fake brilliantly.

With one touch he moved the ball around the goalkeeper and found himself staring at an open net from an increasingly difficult angle.

Still, he went for it.

The shot raced beyond Amos, skipped past a recovering defender and sent thousands of supporters holding their breath before it clipped the outside of the post and bounced wide.

The away end, which had been anticipating the whole situation, groaned while the home crowd exhaled.

”Oh, that is close,” the commentator said. ”Benrahma did almost everything right.”

”And that’s a huge warning for Wigan,” his partner replied. ”They’ve survived there, but only just.”’

Amos was already springing up from the floor, scrambling when MichailAntonio arrived a half step behind the loose ball with his foot raised to finish it.

But as if getting an extra burst of energy, Amos got there first, smothering it away before the contact could happen.

”And Amos again!!!!,” the co-commentator started, but didn’t finish, because the ball had already gone the other way.

West Ham had committed bodies to the attack, and the moment possession changed hands, Wigan took it by the scruff of the neck.

Max Power found Leo with a firm pass through midfield, and Leo allowed it to run across his body, letting Ward-Prowse drift past on the wrong side of the play.

Carlo made the same read and left it too, and for a moment, it looked as though Leo was shaping to slide the ball into Carlo’s path.

Instead, he lifted it over the defensive line, catching the West Ham players off guard.

It caught West Ham’s back four flat-footed, and it even drew a moment of surprise from the commentary box as Jake ran on to meet the ball.

The striker burst onto the pass and drove toward goal with Aguerd racing across to close him down.

The angle narrowed quickly, but before the defender could fully shut the door, Jake fired a low ball across the face of goal as Ezra arrived at the far post.

The stadium was already rising, already expecting the shot, with some half of it dreading the shot too.

Instead, Ezra showed remarkable composure and rolled it back into the middle.

Emerson had committed himself completely, preparing to block an effort that never came.

The cutback found Reyes, who shaped to shoot first time.

Seeing the Portuguese poised to send the ball into the back of the net, two defenders in West Ham shirts threw themselves toward him, but once more, Reyes never struck it.

The feint sent bodies flying past, and with the space suddenly opening in front of him, he shifted the ball onto his left foot and drove it low through the crowd.

Areola saw it late, and far too late.

The ball skipped through the bodies and nestled into the corner, and then in the second following that, the DW shuddered before it erupted.

”GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL”

”THERE IT IS? MORE LIFE IN THIS GAME FOR WIGAN HAVE GOTTEN A SECOND!” the commentator shouted over the noise.

”AND WEST HAM HAVE BEEN CUT APART ON THE COUNTERATTACK!”

Reyes was already sprinting toward the corner flag.

He jumped onto the advertising boards, arms spread wide as the noise crashed down on him from every side.

For a moment, he stayed that way until his teammates arrived and dragged him into a celebration that quickly became a pile of blue-and-white shirts.

Beyond Wigan and the DW, all across the country, people were beginning to ask a different question.

In pubs, in living rooms and on phones, the question now was whether they were actually going to do it again.

Despite the win against Brighton and Chelsea, many still saw it as a fluke, and so they thought facing an in-form West Ham might have been the reality check for the recently promoted club, but it seemed it wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

But that wasn’t all.

On a live stream pundit session, a new subject was being talked about.

”If this result holds,” one pundit said, ”Wigan will have won all three of their opening league matches.”

”Same as Manchester United, who are playing their 4th Premier League game today.”

At that, the second pundit laughed.

”I don’t think anyone expected to be having this conversation in September.”

Back at the DW, Reyes had finally escaped the crowd of teammates around him.

The midfielder jogged back toward the halfway line, still grinning.

The away end greeted him with a chorus of boos, but that only made the smile wider.

Without a single glance, he turned toward them, placed two fingers against his lips and then blew an exaggerated kiss straight at the travelling West Ham supporters.

The reaction was immediate.

A fresh wave of noise crashed down from the away section to which

Reyes nodded once as if accepting their feedback and continued jogging toward his own half.

”Well,” the commentator laughed, ”I don’t think Reyes is too concerned about making friends this afternoon.”

”No,” the co-commentator replied. ”And judging by the scoreline, he probably feels he’s earned the right.”

After a while, the game kicked on again, but this time, with West Ham looking like a shadow of themselves.