Zero to Hero (2 page)

Mr Smith blew his whistle.

Will had never played in defence before, and even playing in the park with Steve, tackling had never been one of his strong points. He did his best to keep track of David. But the winger was just too quick, and time after time Will lost out.

The forwards on David's side kept sending the ball to him as they knew he could out-run Will.

After a bit, Mr Smith asked Steve to swap places with Will.

Steve was up against Joe, another very quick player. But Steve was faster than Will was, and he got in a couple of good tackles.

Will could see Mr Smith nodding as he watched the game. He knew his chances of getting into the team were fading fast.

When Mr Smith announced who was in at the end of the match, Will did his best to look pleased for his friend, but all he could think of was that he would be spending another game standing on the sidelines.

Match day arrived. Will knew the Ravens would probably lose. He was going to cheer on his best mate but really he wanted to be out on the pitch.

Mr Smith was talking to the team, and Will could see Steve and the other new players being given extra advice. Then Mr Smith's phone rang. He looked worried as he took the call. What was going on?

Will looked at the team again, and saw what the problem was. There were only ten players!

Just then, Steve came running over.

“Smithy has just had a call,” he told Will. “Lee's got the flu and can't play! Kingham will be here soon and Smithy thinks we're going to forfeit the match, but I said you'd step in.”

At last
, thought Will.
I have a chance to prove myself!

Lee played in midfield, so Will would even be playing in the position he liked best.

“But I haven't got any kit!” he said.

“That's OK,” said Steve. “The team kit bag is in the changing room, and there's a pair of boots in lost property.”

“I just hope they fit!” said Will, as he rushed off.

Minutes later he was ready.

He jogged out to join the rest of the team. The Ravens shirt was massive on him, and the boots were a size too big, but Will didn't care. He was finally getting a chance to play for the Ravens!

“OK,” said Mr Smith. “We are missing a lot of first choice players, but we can still get a result.”

He looked at all the players in turn. “The game plan doesn't change; we get the ball forward fast and often, and keep Kingham on the back foot. Stick to your opponents if we lose the ball, and pressure them into making mistakes. We can win this!”

The ref blew his whistle, and Ravenshill kicked off. Adam passed back to Will from the centre circle, and Will had time to pick a neat pass out before any Kingham players got near him.

A good start, but soon the Ravens were playing their usual style of booting the ball from defence up towards the strikers. This meant the ball came nowhere near Will. But when Kingham got the ball they played a patient passing game.

The Ravens' efforts to closely mark their opponents weren't working – whenever they got near to the ball it was simply passed away.

Steve was getting dragged all over the pitch trying to mark the Kingham left winger. He tracked him into the centre of the pitch – but he'd left a huge gap in defence. Kingham saw it, and were onto it at once.

The left-back surged into the open space, before knocking a simple ball across the box to where their striker was waiting to smash the ball home.

Kingham cheered, and the Ravens players all started shouting at each other, with Steve taking most of the stick.

“What were you thinking, Steve, leaving that gap?” yelled Adam.

“I had to track him, nobody else was there. Why didn't David get back to help?” said Steve.

“He was chasing one of your rubbish passes. Try getting the ball to one of
our
players,” said Tom.

“But with you all so far up the pitch, all I can do is hoof it and hope for the best,” said Steve. “Maybe if the midfield dropped back we could keep the ball for more than ten seconds.”

“Oh, so you know better than Smithy, do you? You're only on the team because everyone is ill!” shouted Tom

Will knew he should speak up for his friend – after all, Steve was only saying the sort of things Will usually said on the touchline – but he wanted to keep out of trouble. So he kept quiet and took his place for kick-off.

The ref blew his whistle, and both teams fell back into the same pattern. Ravenshill played the ball forward, lost it, then chased while Kingham passed it around. It was tiring the Ravens out.

Will drifted closer and closer to the defence, hoping to get a touch of the ball. While the other Ravens players chased, he held his position, watching and waiting.

Suddenly Kingham tried a long shot towards the goal, but Will managed to block it. He got the ball under control and looked up to see where his team-mates were.

Adam was tightly marked up front, but David was making a break down the right and had plenty of space.

Will knew he only had a second to make the pass before he was tackled.

Will sent a looping pass down to David. It bounced neatly into David's path. He was able to keep up his running pace and still control the ball, before surging on towards the byline.

The full-back headed across to meet him, but David quickly whipped the ball across the six yard box. Adam smashed the ball towards the goal on the volley, but the Kingham keeper got across to make a great save.

Before Ravenshill could take the corner, the ref blew for half time. But the Ravens had proved they could create chances of their own, thanks to Will.

“That last move was much better,” said Mr Smith as the players huddled together for their team talk. “Keep on like that and we can get back in the game.”

Adam spoke up. “It was all from Will's pass, really.”

“Yeah, great pass, Will,” said David.

Mr Smith turned and looked at Will. “You're right,” he said, “it really was good. We need more of that.”

“But Will can't play passes like that if we don't get the ball to him,” said Steve. “It's like I said before, we need to use our midfield more. Especially with Will on the pitch.”

This time the team were ready to listen. “I'll drop into midfield,” said Tom, “and even up the numbers. That should give Will more space on the ball.”

Mr Smith nodded. “That could work. So, defence, play the ball out to Will when you get it – ”

Will shook his head. “No, you can't just focus on me. If you do then Kingham will just mark me closely and we'll be back where we started. We have to work as a team.”

Mr Smith gave Will a hard look. He wasn't used to players telling him what to do. But he thought about it for a bit and then said, “OK. You're right. We'll take Kingham on at their own game. Pass and move, use the space, and try to keep hold of the ball. We're only one goal down, we can win this match!”

The team took their places for the second half, and Will hoped that his advice would work out. Kingham hadn't noticed that Tom was dropping deeper, and when a pass went astray, Tom was there to collect it.