Chapter 106 Deflection
Three minutes after the match kicked off.....
[ Quest received ]
[ Quest number: 02 ]
[ Make four one-touch catches in the match ]
[ Quest Rewards ]
[ +1 skill point ]
[ +50 exp ]
[ +1 upgrade to all stats ]
'Finally, a skill point reward although it's just one but one is all I need to unlock that skill.'
The goalkeeper wasn't really paying attention to Unique FC's attack until he began to hear goal chants and quickly raised his gaze to see his teammates gathered around someone on the sidelines.
"Yes!" The goalkeeper exclaimed with an elated voice.
"I wasn't expecting that but for the first time this season, Unique FC have taken an early five minutes all thanks to brilliant play from Roland and wonderful finishing from Fredinho," Jim said.
"The striker hasn't played many matches this season because of Goerge Neville being the direct backup for Fred but he has performed quite exceptionally and with George out on injury, he's getting a little more playing time," Steve said. "That's his fifth goal of the season."
With his teammates walking back to their side of the pitch now, Fredinho cheered the fans on one more time and blew a kiss toward them before turning to follow his teammates.
The match had resumed a few minutes after that wonderful goal from Fredinho and right now they were being super careful.
'Dave didn't just improve, their team has gotten better and that left back, we have to find a way to stop him.' Darwin thought as he played the ball short to Seth. 'That Mateo isn't even in the match yet and they still managed to score against us.'
"Seth's still with the ball here," Jim said.
Harry rushed toward the right winger to try and dispossess him off the ball but with a neat snake bite, the winger quickly got rid of him and was racing down the right wing now.
"Woah, that was harsh on Harry," Jim said.
It didn't take long for Roland to close up on the winger but he didn't look fazed and continued his run toward the left back and just before he could get to him, he rolled the ball back to the midfielder behind and then zoomed past Roland to receive the ball back from his teammate.
"That's a clever move from Seth and now he's got a clear sight of the goalpost," Jim said.
Yeah, he had a clear sight of the goalpost from that far out and a lot of fans thought he was going to shoot from that far out but he had a better idea.
Darwin was making a run toward the edge of the box at that time as the winger feigned shooting at the goalpost before passing the ball to him.
Darwin raced toward the ball and without even trapping it, he sent it flying toward the left side of the goalpost with a little elevation.
"Darwin!"
Dave dived toward the ball at that exact time and with the tip of his right glove, he was able to push it off for Norman to get his foot on it and make the clearance.
"What a save!" Jim exclaimed.
Roland quickly made his way to pat him on his back, that was a very crucial save.
"I said in an interview yesterday that after that humiliation from Supreme United, Dave Richards has turned into something else, he is starting to become a very important part of Unique FC," Steve said. "A lot of people thought his performances were fluke but he's still making his point that he is not putting up a fluke performance he is showing us the part of Dave Richards that we have never seen before."
"Yeah."
The cleared ball had been won by Fred in an aerial duel but he couldn't move forward due to the number of Frono FC players in the area so he passed the ball to Ferran who in turn sent it to Harry on the left side of midfield.
Harry covered the little space he had before passing the ball to Ferran who was slowly moving through the middle.
Ferran trapped the ball under his foot before he looked up and spotted Fred who was making a run into the box, the midfielder pushed the ball a little before sending it to Fred from over the top.
"That's a deadly pass from Ferran."
The ball flew toward Ferran with a defender right behind him and without even waiting for the ball to hit the floor, the striker sent the ball flying toward the goalpost.
"Fred!"
The ball went straight toward the top right-hand corner and smashed on the crossbar before falling off for a goal-kick.
"Oh, it hit the crossbar," Steve said.
Steve stared at that particular part of the crossbar and bit his lower lip before he turned and began to walk back to his side of the pitch.
The clock was showing fifty-four minutes now with Frono FC leading an attack on Unique FC's goalpost.
Seth passed the ball to the attacking midfielder who was at the edge of the box, the player feigned shooting at Aima before stretching the ball away from him to slot it toward the right side of the goalpost but there was no need for Dave to do anything as Roland was there at the right time to block the shot.
The ball hit his body and rolled out for a corner kick as the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot for a corner kick.
"That was a nice block from Roland," Jim said.
"Yeah, but now they've got a corner kick to deal with," Steve said.
Seth was the one who had stepped up to take the corner kick as the players from both teams flooded the eighteen-yard box.
The referee blew his whistle as the winger hesitated for a while before he raced toward the ball and sent it flying into the eighteen-yard box.
Harry rose high above every other player to meet the ball with a clearance header but his clearance wasn't that far enough as it fell to the feet of Darwin at the edge of the box.
"Good clearance by Harry."
Adolf quickly ran toward the striker and tried to bring him down with a tackle but the striker moved a little to the right with the ball to avoid the tackle before he sent the ball flying toward the left side of the goalpost.
Dave dived toward the ball at the right time but he had made a mistake by being so quick to dive.
Aima happened to be in the way as the ball smashed on his head and rolled into the goalpost through the middle and there was nothing Dave or any Unique FC player in the area could do about it.
"Darwin shoots! Darwin scores!" Jim exclaimed as Darwin quickly took off to the sidelines with his teammates quickly following from behind.
"I'm sure Dave would have saved that if it had not deflected on Aima but that's football for you, things like this happen and nobody sees it coming," Steve said.
"With just a few minutes left to go in on the break, they've finally gotten that equalizer."
Dave had a devastated look on his face as he sat down beside the crossbar.
The goal wasn't the only reason why his face was looking like that.
[ Quest failed ]
<It wasn't your fault>
***
Hope you enjoyed the chapter?
If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I'll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.