Harbinger Of Glory

”And Leo Calderon has snuffed that one out before Manchester United could turn it into anything!” Drury said.

”He has become increasingly important to Wigan at both ends of this pitch.”

Leo didn’t force the next pass.

He slowed the game down, turned back toward his own defence and played it into Whatmough.

The centre-back returned it to Amos, allowing Wigan to reset.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Jake’s absence had changed the game.

Will Keane was working, making runs and trying to give Maguire and Lindelöf something to think about, but he wasn’t offering the same physical presence Jake had provided.

The two defenders were beginning to step forward with greater freedom and United, noticing the gap in the Wigan setup, began to push higher.

Due to that, the space around Wigan’s penalty area began shrinking, and Amos, who had already been called into action once, began getting more of such calls!

Save after save followed soon after, each one forcing Wigan deeper than they wanted to be.

Twelve minutes had passed since Jake had gone off, and although Wigan still led, the game no longer belonged to them in quite the same way.

Leo felt that more than anyone.

He was spending less time around the edge of the United box now, sacrificing those attacking positions to cover the spaces behind his teammates.

He intercepted passes, tracked runners and repeatedly dropped toward Bruno whenever the midfielder found room.

Then United found a way through.

Bruno received possession centrally and waited for Rashford’s movement to develop.

Rashford accelerated into the space behind the Wigan defence, and Bruno released the pass at exactly the right moment.

”Bruno waits... Rashford goes!”

The ball curved beyond the defensive line, carrying Rashford toward the left side of the box until he reached the ball and, without breaking stride, came the delivery!

Rashford bent it across goal, sending the ball through the space between defenders and the goalkeeper and settling right into it, was Martial!

The Frenchman pulled and then stretched towards the ball till his touch redirected the ball toward the far corner.

”MARTIAALLL!” Drury bellowed, and for a fraction of a second, it looked destined for the net, but Ben Amos, leaning as far as he could, got his foot to the ball, pushing it right onto the post!

”OOOOOOOOOOOOHHH, OFF THE POST!”

The sound echoed around Old Trafford as the ball rebounded into the six-yard area, calling for someone to possess it, and Garnacho reacted first.

He attacked it, shifted onto his right foot and tried to bend the second attempt around the bodies in front of him, but once more, Whatmough blocked it.

Garnacho recovered, but Tilt threw himself into the next challenge, and the ball ricocheted away again.

This time, Ezra, who had dropped deeper to support, got there.

He reached the loose ball and instantly hooked it forward with the outside of his boot before turning on the jets!

The ball moved ahead of him, and Ezra chased it into the open field, his stride lengthening as the United players scrambled to turn.

”A break is on. And Wigan might have something here!” Drury called.

”They have survived the storm, and now they have a little road ahead of them!”

Reyes saw the opening and immediately joined him, but it wasn’t only him!

Keane went through the middle, and Carlo was sprinting down the opposite side, stretching the United defence from one touchline to the other.

It was getting dangerous for the Reds, and something had to be done!

Mainoo moved across first, looking to halt the play, but Ezra waited until the midfielder committed.

Then he knocked the ball beyond him.

The Carrington product turned, looking to keep up, but all he caught was a wisp of Ezra as the latter galloped away!

The winger surged into the United half before finally releasing it toward Keane.

The striker took the ball and, rather than forcing the attack, slowed everything down with a single touch.

That pause brought Reyes into play, and before United could gather their thoughts again, Keane slipped it across to Reyes, who met it first time, sending it out into Carlo, who had just bent his run!

The pass reached him perfectly, and as Carlo took one touch into his path, he lifted his head and saw the space beyond Maguire.

When he found it, he didn’t hesitate.

His weaker left foot came through the ball; the strike stayed low, viciously driven across the goal toward the far corner.

Onana moved, and he knew immediately that he wasn’t getting there.

He reached to the fullest, straining not to concede again, and so when the ball smashed against the post, it was like music to his ears!

”Oh, against the post,” Drury cried as the sound reverberated across the theatre of dreams!

The breaths of the Manchester United fans hitched as the ball rebounded violently into the penalty area.

They prayed, hoping a shirt of theirs would get to the ball first, and they were answered!

Maguire turned and threw himself toward it as Onana scrambled across his line.

The defender managed to get a boot to the ball and clear it away, but only as far as the space directly outside the penalty arc.

And then, sticking his head out once more was Leo, who hadn’t joined an attack in over a quarter of an hour!

The ball rose toward him as he positioned himself underneath it and cushioned it against his chest.

The touch sent the ball upward, keeping the gazes in an almost mesmerised state.

There was time for another touch.

There was time to bring it down.

But Leo rejected those thoughts!

Something in him simply reacted, and before he could even think, his right leg came through the falling ball.

The volley was struck before the ball could even taste a whiff of the grass!

”IT’S CCCAAAALDERON!”

Drury’s voice rose sharply as the ball flew through the crowd outside the box, carrying pace toward the right side of the goal.

It rose, way above what it was supposed to do, and that made Onana take a step up.

’It was going high,’ he thought, but he wasn’t the only one thinking so!

The goalkeeper adjusted his feet, preparing to watch it pass the crossbar, but then the ball dipped, violently and gloriously!

Its trajectory changed just enough, and it was only then that Onana realised what was happening.

He pushed off and lunged toward his left, arm stretching desperately across the goal, beads of sweat trailing against gravity, but he was nowhere near it.

The ball crashed into the back of the net, and the net snapped backwards from the force.

Old Trafford erupted but in agony!

For one second, Leo remained standing where he had struck it, his body still slightly open from the volley, staring toward the goal as though he had to see it twice.

Then Drury found his voice.

”OH, WOW! WOW WOW WOW! THERE IT IS!”

”WHAT A BEAUTY! WHAT A STRIKE!”

Drury’s voice climbed higher.

”AND IT’S LEO CALDERON AGAIN! A GHOST FROM THE PAST AND HE IS HAUNTING UNITED!”

Leo finally turned toward the United end!

”HOW DOES HE KEEP DOING IT? HE HAS KNOCKED THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF MANCHESTER!”

The Wigan supporters were already on their feet, lurching forward like dry plants for sun as Leo, previously running, dropped into a slide across the turf, arms spread for balance, his eyes fixed on the Manchester United supporters behind the goal.

The Wigan players came charging from every direction, throwing themselves into the celebration as the rest of the team piled around Leo as the noise from the away end became almost deafening.

”THAT IS A HAT-TRICK!” Drury roared. ”A TALE AS OLD AS HISTORY ITSELF! A HAT-TRICK AT OLD TRAFFORD!”

He paused, almost laughing at the absurdity of it.

”MANCHESTER MIGHT BE PRAYING...PRAYING THAT HE CAN SPARE ANY MERCY THAT HE MIGHT FIND BECAUSE THERE IS DARKNESS IN THE DISTANCE FOR UNITED, AND CALDERON IS THE HARBINGER!”

Leo disappeared beneath his teammates, and for the first time all afternoon, the Manchester United supporters had no response.

It was shock, disbelief, and their skin feeling bare all over again!

They wouldn’t admit it, but they were having goosebumps!

Their former academy player had just scored his third and it was getting awry!