T.J. and the Winning Goal (12 page)

‘What do you think?’ TJ asked Danny, who was standing beside him on the touchline. When Danny didn’t reply, he turned to look
at
him. Danny was miles away, with a worried frown on his face, not really watching the game. ‘What is it?’ asked TJ. He realized he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Danny since they’d been on the bus the day before.

‘It’s my little sister,’ Danny said, after a pause. ‘She was all hot and miserable and Mum took her to the doctor. That’s why I was late for the bus yesterday. And I tried to call home last night, and this morning, but no one answered.’

‘But . . . your mum must have said it was OK for you to come.’

Danny nodded.

‘And if there was anything wrong they’d have let you know. We all had that letter with the number of the Youth Centre.’

‘You’re right,’ Danny said, looking slightly more cheerful. ‘Thanks, TJ. Hey look! Ebony’s through!’

Rob had caught the Redhill defence out, playing Ebony in on goal with a single penetrating pass. But the last Redhill defender was fast. As Ebony hit her shot, he caught up with her and made a desperate attempt to tackle her. The ball hit his leg and ballooned into the air, flying over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net. It was 2–0 to Parkview.

TJ found himself yelling at the top of his voice, but then he felt Danny grab his arm. ‘Ebony’s hurt,’ he said.

Mr Wood ran onto the pitch. After a few moments he shook his head and lifted Ebony to her feet, then he helped her to limp painfully over to the touchline. ‘Quickly, TJ,’ Mr Wood called beckoning to him. ‘Don’t just stand there. You’re going to have to come on right now.’

But before TJ could run onto the pitch the ref blew for half time. ‘Is Ebony going to be all right?’ asked TJ, as the Parkview players gathered around Mr Wood. ‘It looked like it really hurt.’

‘She turned her ankle as she shot,’ Mr Wood said. ‘She’s OK, but she won’t be playing any more football today.’

‘How are Kingsmead doing against Highfield?’ asked Rob.

‘You don’t need to know,’ said Mr Wood. ‘If you win this game three–nil then you’re through to the knockout phase. So you need to score one more goal, and stop them from
scoring
. That’s your job. Don’t waste time worrying about Kingsmead.’

As the second half began, Redhill made several dangerous attacks on the Parkview goal. Twice Tommy made crucial tackles, and once Rodrigo cleared off the line with Jamie hopelessly beaten. And in midfield Redhill had finally realized just how dangerous Rob could be. Every time he received the ball he found two players coming to mark him, blocking off the flow of passes to TJ and Tulsi.

The minutes ticked away and it began to look more and more likely that Redhill would score. When another shot from a Redhill attacker flashed past Jamie’s post, Rob jogged over to Rafi. ‘They’re leaving you alone when they come to mark me,’ he said. ‘You have to get forward. Do one of those dribbles you always used to do and then get it out to TJ. I’ll try and get in the area
too
. We have to score.’

Rafi grinned. ‘We’ll do it,’ he said.

From the goal kick the ball came directly to Rafi’s feet. He played it to Rob, just as he’d been doing all match, and the defender who’d been marking him instantly moved to cover Rob. Rob snapped a pass straight back to Rafi, who dribbled forward, flat out, into the Redhill half. TJ set off down the wing and Rafi found him with a pass down the line. As TJ ran he could see blue and black Parkview shirts streaming towards the penalty area, but Tulsi seemed to hesitate and TJ knew instinctively that she was doing what all good strikers do and making herself half a metre of space. As Rob and Rafi took three defenders with them into the area, TJ knew just where Tulsi would be. He pulled the ball back, wrong-footing every defender, and from fifteen metres out, Tulsi slammed it into the back of the net.

It was 3–0 to Parkview, and when the final whistle blew, three nerve-racking minutes later, Mr Wood was waiting for the victorious team with a huge smile on his face. ‘You’re in the quarterfinals,’ he told them. ‘Kingsmead only drew. Well done, all of you. I knew you’d do it. And by the way, Tulsi, you’ll be pleased to know that our friends from the TV got some footage of you scoring.’

They all looked over and saw Maggie Burnside and a cameraman with the Parkview supporters. She gave them a little wave and a cheesy smile, but none of them waved back.

‘OK,’ said Mr Wood. ‘Our quarterfinal is against St John’s. They’re one of the best teams here, and the main thing you need to know about them is that they’re big and strong. They’ll probably try to scare you with hard tackles. You’ll need to move the ball
quickly
. Speed will give you an advantage. Take one of these drinks and an energy bar and be back here in half an hour.’

TJ jogged over to see his family. His dad was deep in conversation with Jamie’s dad.

‘Great win, TJ,’ said his brother Joey. ‘We all thought you were going out. Especially when Ebony got injured.’

TJ looked at his dad. ‘What’s up, Dad?’ he said. ‘You look like you’re bursting to say something.’

‘No,’ said his dad, with another glance at Jamie’s dad. ‘I had a bit of good news, that’s all. I’ll tell you about it later.’

TJ laughed. His dad loved keeping secrets.

The Parkview supporters all moved over to the pitch where their next match was going to take place, and TJ got his first glimpse of the team from St John’s. ‘They’re huge!’ said his mum. ‘They can’t be under-elevens.’

‘It’s a big school,’ said Mr Wood, who was
waiting
on the pitch. ‘And I reckon they just choose their biggest boys. Let’s warm up, Parkview.’

It seemed to TJ as if time had speeded up.

Suddenly the warm-up was over, and St John’s had kicked off. They played the ball forward and Rob intercepted the pass. He took one touch and a St John’s player hit him with a crunching tackle. Rob crashed to the ground and St John’s moved forward with the ball. TJ stared at the referee, who took a glance at Rob climbing to his feet and waved play on. ‘Move, TJ!’ yelled Mr Wood. ‘Play to the whistle!’

TJ ran. This was going to be like no match they’d ever played before.

C
HAPTER
21

A ST JOHN’S
forward thumped a shot at Jamie, but he got his body behind it and held on well. He raced to the edge of his area and threw the ball to TJ. TJ ran at a defender and then slipped it sideways to Rob, who moved it on to Leila before any of the St John’s players could get near him.

‘That’s better, Parkview,’ called Mr Wood, as Leila passed forward to Tulsi, who shielded the ball brilliantly before laying it off to TJ on the wing. TJ flicked the ball past the defender and nipped inside him, but the
defender
simply stood in his way and TJ felt as if he had run into a wall. He got to his feet dizzily, as he heard the ref’s whistle. ‘That was great, TJ,’ Rob said in his ear, as he came forward to take the free kick. ‘If we’re as quick as that, they’re bound to give away more fouls.’

‘Yeah, and we’ll all end up in hospital,’ said TJ. He jogged into the penalty area. Rob’s free kick floated towards the back post where Tulsi was waiting. She climbed into the air, but as she was about to head the ball TJ saw a defender nudge her in the back and it skidded off the top of her head and out for a goal kick.

‘Hey!’ said Danny, who had come forward for the set piece and seen what had happened. ‘He shoved her, ref.’

Instantly the ref called Danny over. ‘I’m the referee,’ he said, showing Danny his whistle. ‘No more arguments.’

‘It’s not right,’ Danny muttered to TJ, as he ran back.

‘It wasn’t the ref’s fault,’ TJ said. Danny had been upset and worried about his sister before the game even started, and now it looked as if he might easily lose his temper, and that would be a disaster. ‘He couldn’t see. These St John’s players are clever.’

‘And dirty,’ muttered Danny.

From the goal kick St John’s launched another attack. Their midfielder turned past Rob, shoving him aside, and played the ball out to the wing. Danny saw where the pass was going and stepped forward to cut it out. He took a touch, then played it down the line to TJ, but as he passed the ball the St John’s winger slid in to tackle him. The winger was too late, and he took Danny’s feet from under him. Danny slammed into the ground. Instantly he was back on his feet, his face twisted with anger, facing up to
the
winger. Rob ran towards him. ‘Danny, no!’ he called.

TJ was certain that Danny was going to hit the St John’s player and get himself sent off. But then Danny stopped. A voice was calling from the crowd. ‘Danny! Hey, Danny!’

TJ looked. A tall, suntanned man was waving at Danny. He was holding Danny’s sister, Rosie, in his other arm. Then he pointed to his side, and TJ saw Danny’s mum with a double buggy beside her and two beaming twins sitting inside it.

Danny waved back. He had a huge smile on his face as he picked up the ball and waved the Parkview team forward. Tulsi collected his free kick on her chest and hit the ball back to Rob. Rob chipped it towards the corner flag and TJ hit the bouncing ball first time, back across the goal.

The defenders were too slow. Leila darted between two of them and slotted the ball
into
the net. It was 1–0 to Parkview and Leila just stood there, grinning. It was her first goal for Parkview, other than a penalty in the Cup semifinal. ‘You need to think of a celebration that you can do every time you score,’ Tulsi told her, thumping her on the back. Leila laughed. ‘Great cross, TJ,’ she said, as the Parkview supporters cheered from the touchline.

Suddenly the St John’s players didn’t seem scary any more. They just seemed slow. Tulsi began to make dangerous runs, pulling the defenders all over the pitch until they were breathing hard. Space began to open up for TJ and Rob and early in the second half they scored a classic breakaway goal, running the length of the pitch and exchanging passes before TJ fired low into the bottom corner for Parkview to take a 2–0 lead.

St John’s were beaten and they knew it.
Tulsi
and TJ each scored another goal and Parkview won the match 4–0. They were buzzing with confidence when they played their semifinal. Riverside School had no chance, as Parkview put three goals past them in the first half. TJ scored first with a header from a cross by Rafi. Then Rob put a curling free kick into the top corner before Tulsi scored, left-footed, from the edge of the area. The second half passed like a dream, as Parkview kept the ball with an exhibition of skill that had their supporters shouting ‘
Ol
é’ with every successful pass. And when the final whistle blew they were just one match away from being Regional Champions.

‘This is it, then,’ said Mr Wood, as they waited for the final to begin. TJ heard a shake in his voice and looked up. There was no doubt about it – Mr Wood was nervous. That wasn’t surprising though. They were all
feeling
it now. A large crowd had gathered to watch the final and TJ had heard players from other teams saying that scouts from all the big clubs were here, on the lookout for talent.

‘Excuse me, Mr Wood,’ said Maggie Burnside, pushing between the Parkview players. ‘I wonder if I could have a few words before the final. Jolly well done, all of you, by the way.’