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As the teams switched ends, Charlie’s dad summoned You Know The Score over for a quick pep talk.
“Annie, are you okay? That looked a nasty tackle.”
Annie appeared to be a little wobbly but replied: “I’m fine.”
Liam watched her with concern for a moment before looking around the rest of the team.
“This is close. They’re a decent team with clever tactics.”
Everyone nodded.
They did not have much to say – they were all busy drinking water or trying to catch their breath.
“It’s time for us to make a change.
“Peter, you’re coming off for Harry this time.”
“What?” Charlie, Annie and Bradders all answered at the same time.
To Charlie’s surprise though, Peter did not argue.
He simply nodded and stepped over the wooden bench to take a seat.
“Wrecka knows you all too well.
“He knows what you’re going to do.
“He knows that Charlie only needs a sight of the goal to score.
“So he’s stopping you having the ball near the goal.
“As a result, we need to be clever too.
“Harry, you go up top on your own.
“Wrecka has never seen you play before – it will make him hesitate.”
Joe rubbed his chin, deep in thought: “Yeah, I think I understand.
“With Harry on, we can drop Charlie into the midfield away from Wrecka.
“He can pick the ball up deep and either be able to shoot – or play Harry in because he’s the only one who knows how Harry plays.”
Liam slapped Joe on the back.
“Bingo, Mr Foster!
“Let’s give them something different to worry about.
“It’s time we gave that goalkeeper a few headaches.”
You Know The Score’s players bounced back into their positions with a new confidence.
Charlie could see Wrecka looking suspiciously at Harry.
They had been friends for a long time but he could not remember Wrecka ever facing his little brother – either at The Rec or in his back garden.
He smiled to himself.
His brother was something special – when he wasn’t being really annoying, of course.
The ref blew the whistle and dropped the ball.
A split second later Harry had nipped in to swipe it away from a shocked-looking Bim.
The youngster played it straight back to Charlie.
The Boy Wonder wasn’t even on the halfway line but it did not matter.
His target almost instantly flicked on to the Hopless goal, flashed green and Charlie pulled the trigger.
The target had not been in the corner but it didn’t matter.
Charlie knew it was important to move everyone up the pitch.
The ball whistled easily past the Hopless players – Wrecka had followed Harry towards the left side of the pitch and, for once, wasn’t there to block the shot.
Tightline’s eyes widened as the ball zoomed towards him.
He flung a padded glove at the ball and forced it on to the bar.
The ball ricocheted back towards Wrecka, who had desperately dashed back towards his own goal, met the ball with his head on the edge of the area.
But he had misjudged the power of the shot.
The ball cannoned off Wrecka’s head and went straight into the air.
“FOUL!”
Every member of You Know The Score threw their hands up in the air at the same time.
Charlie’s dad and Peter were screaming from the bench too.
The ref looked at the ball high in the air and blew his whistle.
“That is a free-kick to the blues. The ball clearly went over head height.”
Hands on his head, Wrecka could not believe his mistake.
The ref placed the ball on the edge of the area ... and told the Hopless players there was no room for a wall – unless they wanted to give away a penalty.
Annie grabbed the ball.
They had worked on several free-kick routines throughout the summer.
Charlie scooted to the other side of the pitch.
He knew exactly what she had planned but the others had not been part of their park practice sessions.
Before he could say a word, Annie had grabbed them. They nodded as Annie spoke quickly, turned and stood directly over the ball.
“Ref! I can’t see!”
Tightline, as usual, was whining.
With Bradders and Harry standing in the way, the keeper’s vision was blocked.
The ref shook his head.
“That’s not my problem.
“They are perfectly entitled to stand over it – it’s fine as long as none of them take a step into your penalty area, of course.”
Tightline continued to grumble but not loud enough for the ref to hear.
Making sure that everyone was watching, Bradders looked in Charlie’s direction and gave a thumbs-up.
Wrecka spotted the signal straight away and moved a step closer to Charlie.
He whispered: “I know this is coming straight to you, Boy Wonder.
“You forget that I train with you every week!
“Why on earth wouldn’t you be taking it?
“You think you can fool everyone – but not me.”
Charlie grinned but said nothing in response.
The ref blew his whistle again.
“Charlie!”
Annie shouted as she began her run up.
Charlie moved ... but ran away from the Hopless goal.
The Hopless players stopped in their tracks, confused by the opposition’s unexpected movements.
When Annie was a step away from the ball, Bradders and Harry calmly stepped to the side.
Unable to see the ball, Tightline had been watching Charlie.
He turned back too late.
He did not move a muscle as Annie calmly side-footed the ball into the far corner of the net.
GOAL!
“YES!”
Annie punched the air and was soon swamped by the rest of the team. Joe scampered down the pitch to celebrate too.
“I can’t believe it worked!”
Charlie shook his head in amazement too.
All those hours playing on The Rec had finally paid off.
One of the free-kick routines had actually paid off.
Now they just had to hang on – and a rematch with Crowny would await them.