Chapter 344 Second One
"Looking at the footage again, it does look like Sandro was the one who got to Adolf first and made, and even at that, I don't think that would have been enough to make him fall." Jim expressed after taking a closer look at the footage of the foul.
"Yeah, Jim, that looked like a dive to me, but the referee doesn't seem to care, he thinks it's a penalty and he doesn't look like he's going to take back his words, he's not even going to check VAR." Steve expressed.
A couple of Unique FC players were gathered around the referee trying to convince him to overturn his decision or at least go check VAR, but the referee wasn't listening to them.
In the end, Minino got a red card for saying something he wasn't supposed to say and the penalty was going to stand.
"First booking of the evening, Minino, it's weird that he's gotten a good number of cards just by saying something to the referee," Jim said.
"So, that's the way it's going to be," Dave muttered under his breath as he adjusted both of his gloves.
Sandro was standing over the ball now in the penalty kick spot waiting for the referee's whistle so that he could drill the ball into the goalpost and give his team the lead.
'This could go either way, but I mustn't allow them to take the lead this easily and this early.'
After making sure that everyone was behind the penalty taker and Dave was ready for the kick, the referee blew his whistle.
'I could use focus but it would be dangerous in a situation like this, ah…I just wish you would stop this and tell me what you think, Catherine.'
After hearing the referee's whistle, Sandro slowly took two steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and fired it toward the goalpost.
Looking at the way he positioned himself, Dave knew he was going to fire it toward the right side and he was right about that, the only problem was that he didn't know how high or low he was going to kick the ball.
He didn't give much thought to that as he decided to go low, but unfortunately, Sandro seemed to have fired the ball toward the right side with a little bit of elevation.
That could have been disastrous but fortunately for Unique FC, Dave had a quick solution just as he was about to miss the ball.
He quickly raised his right arm just as the ball was about to go over him from the top and smacked it down before it could cross the goal line.
"Oh, my goodness, he saved it, I thought that was going in!" Jim exclaimed.
"Yeah, but it's not over yet."
Steve was right, it wasn't over yet as the ball had fallen to the center of the box and now it was up to who was going to get there first.
Zen was one of the first players to burst into the box with a slide as he wanted to put the ball in no matter what, but before he could get there, Roland got there with a slide.
He pushed the ball to Aima with his slide, and without hesitation, the center back sent the ball flying far away from their box.
"Wow, what a moment we had there, Roland Ryle is arguably one of the fastest players in the Bilbeth Premier League, especially when it comes to situations where he has to stop someone from getting to the ball first and putting it in while the goalkeeper is disoriented." Jim expressed.
"Yeah, that was a close call for Unique FC, it's a good thing he was close enough," Steve said. "Dave Richards did quite well in stopping that penalty kick, and that save means that he still hasn't conceded any goal in the Bilbeth Premier League this season."
"If he survives this one, it's going to be seven straight clean sheets for him and zero goals conceded I'm seven straight matches, that's going to be a first for any goalkeeper in the Bilbeth Premier League." Jim articulated.
'That was scary.' Dave said subconsciously as he got up on his feet before letting out a deep sigh. 'I'm glad it's over.'
The match continued with Ronino FC trying everything they could to put the ball in the back of the net but all five of their shots after that penalty kick had been off target.
Unique FC had been quiet so far with their only goal attempt coming from a clumsy shot from Mateo which the goalkeeper didn't have any trouble stopping.
Unique FC were the ones with the ball now as they were trying to slowly work their way up to Ronino FC's box.
One of the main reasons Ronino FC had been having trouble with their attacks was Frankie.
Norman was right to put him in the defensive midfield position as he was causing a lot of problems for Ronino FC whenever they got close to him with the ball, and he wasn't letting anything get through him easily.
Frankie received the ball from Minino after he trapped back to avoid losing the ball in a tough situation.
Frankie moved a little bit forward with the ball before he found Ferran making a run down the left and sent the ball flying over to him.
"Frankie's sending it over to Ferran."
Zen quickly rushed to the area to try and dispossess Ferran but before he could get to him, Ferran brought the ball down with a single touch from his right foot, and without hesitation, he sent it rolling to Mateo who had shifted a little bit to the middle.
"Ferran to Mateo, can they do something here?"
One of the defenders quickly rushed out to try and stop the winger, but before he could get to him, he pushed the ball to Frankie who had decided to cover up and help the attack.
After receiving the ball, Frankie sent it rolling to Minino who moved it to Merino with a single touch as he had a player hot on his trail.
Merino got past the player right behind with a dummy and now he was through on the right wing.
There were a couple of his teammates in the box, so the right thing to do was cross and that was exactly what he did.
"He's sent it flying in."
Fredinho jumped high to get his head on the ball together with two defenders in the box, but they all ended up missing it as the ball flew toward Mateo who quickly pulled his head back and sent the ball flying toward the left side of the goalpost.
The header didn't have much power to it but it sure was a tricky one as the winger went for the angle.
Fortunately for Ronino FC, their goalkeeper was able to get there with the tip of his glove, and that was all he needed to send the ball over the bar.
"Oh, my goodness, I thought that was going in, what a save!"
"Yeah, that was a close call," Steve said. "Mateo seriously looking for that goal to extend his scoring streak to eight consecutive matches."
The match had just entered the twenty-fifth minute now as Ferran was standing over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle.
"Unique FC can be quite tricky with corner kicks, let's see what they'll be able to do with this one," Jim said.
It didn't take long before the referee blew his whistle, and after hearing it, Ferran slowly took three steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying into the box.
The first person to get his head on the ball was a defender but he wasn't able to get nod it out as the ball grazed past his head before falling to Mateo's chest.
The winger was in quite a tight spot but he knew Fredinho was right behind as he quickly brought the ball down before he could lose it and pushed it to Fredinho with a backheel pass.
All Fredinho needed to get into the goalpost was a small touch and that was what he did as the ball rolled into the goalpost as the goalkeeper watched from the spot he was glued to.
"I thought he was going to shoot himself but it turns out he had a better idea, what a goal!" Jim exclaimed.
Minino didn't even wait for Fredinho to get to the sidelines as he chased him down and dragged him down before he could get there.
"I was expecting something to come out from that penalty and it happened, Unique FC now have the lead," Steve commented.
The fans were going wild as the players celebrated in front of them and Dave couldn't help but let out a scream because winning this match would take them past Dynamo FC to second place and then they would be just three points behind Supreme United.
The joy from that goal lasted until seven minutes later when something dreadful happened once again.
Zen was lying inside Unique FC's box clutching onto his right foot as the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty box.
That wasn't all as the referee walked straight up to Aima and showed him a straight red card.
"Oh, dear," Jim commented.
"That's clearly a penalty kick, I don't think he should get a straight red card through, but there's no doubt, things aren't looking good for Unique FC here right now." Steve expressed.
'Oh, come on.' Dave said subconsciously before stomping his foot on the floor.
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Happy new month guys, daily updates are back but it's going to be mostly a chapter per day, I'll do two on any good day but it's going to be mostly one, hope you guys enjoyed it.
This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com