“Shoot!”
Leela shot. She was going to, anyway, no matter what Josh might have shouted when he passed to her. The ball beat the diving goalkeeper but struck the foot of the post and rebounded to safety.
“Bad luck!” Josh cried. “It’ll go in next time.”
Leela shook her head and sighed. She knew there might not even be a ‘next time’. The team had barely managed a single shot against Cranfield Juniors in the group game and needed an early goal in the Final to boost their confidence.
Josh, however, had not played in that match and treated the Juniors as just another team. “C’mon, men!” he demanded as if he were the captain. “We can beat this lot.”
Leela did not bother to remind him this time about the fact there were two girls in the side, but his cries did not go unnoticed by the opposition
“Who’s the mouthy kid?” asked one of the Juniors who was marking Matthew. “Didn’t see him before.”
“He’s our secret weapon,” he grinned. “We were just saving him for the Final.”
“Huh! You’ve still got no chance against us.”
Josh had attracted the attention of Cranfield’s teacher too. He wandered up to Mr Blyton on the touchline and put the same query more politely. “Who’s the lad wearing the number four shirt? He looks quite useful.”
“You might know his uncle better,” chuckled Mr Blyton.
“Oh, yes? And who’s that?”
“Ossie Williams!”
The man’s jaw dropped open. “Really!” he gasped. “Where have you been hiding him all morning?”
Mr Blyton smiled. “It’s a long story. I’m just glad he’s here now.”
His teammates felt exactly the same way. Even Rajesh had to admit that Josh now gave them a better chance of success.
But the Juniors were still strong favourites to win the trophy and were determined to do so. They mounted a series of raids and only failed to score because of good defending and a remarkable save by Rajesh. The on-form keeper was wrong-footed by a deflection, but somehow managed to block the ball with his trailing leg.
“Mark tight!” he demanded. “Don’t give ’em so much room.”
It was almost inevitable that all this pressure would lead to a goal, which it did just before the interval, but Westgate were performing much better than they had done in their first encounter with the Juniors.
“Keep this up!” Mr Blyton encouraged the players during the short break. “Try to get the ball to Josh as much as possible. He’s fresher than anyone else on the pitch, even if he’s not fully fit.”
It was true, Josh was feeling the effects of his cold, but he took inspiration from the fact that his dad was watching him play.
“C’mon, my boy!” bellowed Mr Williams as the teams lined up again for the second half. “You show ’em how Ossie would do it!”
Cranfield’s teacher had also warned his players about who Josh was, but that had perhaps only served to make them a little more nervous and wary of him when he had the ball at his feet. They gave him too much respect, and certainly too much space. And it wasn’t long before he made them pay the price.
Receiving the ball just inside his own half of the pitch, Josh moved forward, looking for a striped shirt to pass to. Instead, he found the opposition backing off, allowing him to advance deep into their territory.
Josh wasn’t one to refuse an opportunity to shoot. As soon as he had a clear sight of goal, Josh let fly with his right foot and the ball was bouncing back from the net before the keeper had time to react. The poor boy only caught hold of the ball on its way out.
“What a goal!” screamed Mr Williams as Josh was mobbed by his celebrating teammates. “You beauty!”
To their credit, the Juniors recovered from the shock of conceding the equalizer and hit back with more attacks of their own. Time and again, the favourites went close to restoring their lead but could not find a way past Rajesh again.
The captain was having the game of his life, perhaps spurred on by the desire to outdo his rival. The goalkeeper pulled off a number of fine saves, the best of which had all the spectators applauding.
The Juniors simply could not believe they had failed to score. Rajesh had dived full length to turn the first shot against a post and then had somehow recovered in time to block the rebound at point-blank range.
“Great stuff, Raj!” cried Josh generously. “Fantastic!”
Rajesh grinned as teammates came up to slap their keeper on the back.
“Right, I’ve done my stuff,” he told them. “Now you go and do yours at the other end.”
Josh did exactly that. With time running out and the prospect of a penalty shoot-out to find a winner – Josh started a rare Westgate raid by sweeping the ball out to Matthew near the touchline.
“Take him on, Matt,” he cried. “Beat him for speed.”
His opponent found out just how fast Matthew was. The striker pushed the ball past him and sprinted after it, leaving the defender for dead. The ball almost went dead, too, but Matthew just managed to catch it up before it ran out of play. He looked up to see Leela’s waving arm, signalling where she wanted the ball.
The cross was perfect, right into her path, but both her marker and the goalkeeper had closed in to make any shot very difficult. Leela didn’t even bother touching the ball. She suddenly let it zip past her, selling them a dummy, and the ball rolled invitingly across the deserted area.
The only player who could reach it was Josh. He had continued his lung-bursting run forward, outpacing any defender, and now he stretched out a leg in a desperate attempt to make contact with the ball.
He did so – just. The ball hit his shin rather than his boot, but it was enough to send it bouncing into the unguarded net to put Westgate 2-1 ahead.
Josh was almost too weary to stand up by himself and he was hauled to his feet by teammates. Exhausted by the effects of the cold, he was in no fit state to carry on and Mr Blyton replaced him with Jay for the last two minutes of the game.
“That’s my boy!” cried his father, giving him a big bear hug on the touchline. “Pity your ma ain’t here to see what you done.”
Josh wished his mother had come, too, but right now he was simply hoping and praying that the team could hold on to their precious lead. When the final whistle sounded, Josh leapt into the air in relief, forgetting his tiredness, and raced on to the pitch to join in the celebrations.
He even shook hands with Rajesh. “Let’s forget what happened before,” Josh suggested. “Friends?”
Rajesh gave a shrug. “Maybe,” he replied. “For now, anyway.”
Rajesh soon stepped forward to receive the trophy, along with his individual medal. The rest of the squad followed to receive theirs, too, each showing a Divali garland with a little diva lamp glowing inside it.
“Champions!” cried Mr Williams as the players posed for photographs.
It made them all laugh and provided an excellent picture for the local newspaper.
Westgate’s success had indeed been a real team effort, but it had needed their star player, Josh, to provide the magic final touch.