“They say all goalies are crazy,” Leela told Charlotte. “And Harry sure is crazy!”
Charlotte gave a weak smile. “Well, that’s a good start, then.”
“We’re going to miss you in the Final,” Leela said.
“Just make sure you win,” Charlotte said. “I don’t want to go home with a losers’ medal.”
Leela nodded. “But Ashfield beat us 2–0 in the last round, and they won their semi-final pretty easy, too.”
Leela was right. The all-boys’ squad of Ashfield School was full of confidence.
They even ran onto the pitch in an arrow-shaped formation. Then they did some warm-up exercises.
“Huh! Just look at that load of dummies!” scoffed Harry. “Who do they think they’re going to impress?”
“Us, probably,” said Oliver, who was going to play up front. “Are you OK in that sweat shirt?”
Harry had borrowed Oliver’s green sweatshirt. It was a bit small for him, but it was that or Charlotte’s yellow jersey.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he lied. He didn’t feel at all OK about playing in goal. “Just make sure you score more goals than I let in!”
They grinned at each other.
“Come on, get in goal and I’ll take a few shots at you,” Oliver told him.
They did not have long. Harry was soon called by the referee to toss up with the Ashfield captain.
“Heads!” called Harry as the coin spun into the air.
“Tails,” said the referee.
That wasn’t the only thing that Harry got wrong.
Ashfield swept into the attack straight from the kick-off. It took a well-timed tackle by Ravi, to prevent an early shot at goal.
Harry’s first task as goalie was to block a low shot with his legs instead of his hands. He used his hands for his second task – picking the ball out of the net after the rebound had been smashed back past him.
“Unlucky, skipper,” said Brad.
Harry booted the ball away in a temper.
“Huh! Any chance of you trying to stop them shooting?”
Brad and Ravi kept Ashfield at bay for the rest of the first period. Most of Ashfield’s shots were long-distance efforts which caused Harry few problems, but their own keeper had nothing to do.
Then Gateway won a free kick for a foul on Leela. Oliver took it. The ball swerved and dipped as it flew, but the keeper got it away to one side.
Just before the interval, there was a goal that nobody expected.
Leela was boxed in against the side wall of the pitch. She kicked the ball back to Brad who had moved up in support of the attack, crossing the halfway line for the first time in the game.
Brad pushed the ball in front of him, looking for a Gateway player to pass to, but everyone was well marked.
So Brad went even further forward and ran out of options. The only thing he could do was shoot.
Ashfield realised the danger too late. Before anyone could try to block the shot, the ball was bouncing back out of the net.
“I’ve scored!” Brad screamed in disbelief. “Incredible!”
