My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 345 One Man Down: Does It Make A Difference?

?

"Things aren't looking good for Unique FC here."

Just seven minutes after that goal from Fred, Ronino FC slowly walked their way into Unique FC's goalpost.

They got stuck at some point and when Zen tried to create something out of his own effort, he was brought down by Aima under a reckless challenge right inside the box.

It would have been okay to just give him a yellow card for that challenge, but the referee wanted to go extreme and that was exactly what he did by showing the defender a straight red card.

Now, Unique FC had to deal with another penalty kick while being one man down.

Zen was clutching onto his right foot the entire time, but as soon as Aima was sent off, he was able to slowly get up from the floor with the help of his teammate, and in no time, he was walking normally again.

'Not this again.' Dave said subconsciously.

He didn't have a pleasant look on his face and the same could be said about his teammates, coach, and the fans.

"If Ronino FC manages to convert the penalty kick this time, it's going to be pretty hard for Unique FC to take the lead again now that they're one man down, the match could take a whole different turn." Jim expressed.

"Yeah, it could take a turn against them," Steve commented.

After talking with Xavier for a while Sandro stepped up to the ball in the penalty spot.

"Looks like Sandro is going to be the one to take the penalty kick once again," Jim said.

For the striker, this was like a penalty kick redemption arc and he was determined to make this one count.

'Deep breaths, Dave, you saved the first one and you're also going to save this one.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously before taking a deep breath.

The other players were all behind the penalty taker and both the goalkeeper and penalty taker were ready, all that was left now was for the referee to blow his whistle.

After completely making sure that everything was in place, the referee blew his whistle, the signal Sandro had been waiting for.

"That's the whistle, will Sandro be able to redeem himself with this one?"

'I'm not taking any chances.'

[ Ball magnet activated ]

Sandro slowly took three steps backward before he slowly began to close up on the ball, and as soon as he was close enough, he pulled his right leg back and fired the ball toward the goalpost.

He sent it flying toward the farthest side of the left side of the goalpost exactly where Dave predicted him to play it as he had gone for the right side the last time.

Dave didn't even need ball magnet to get to the ball as he was able to get to it right on time and hit it down, and just before anybody could get to the ball, he stretched his hands and covered the ball.

"Oh, my goodness, he's done it again!" Jim exclaimed.

Unique FC fans erupted with cheers as soon as Dave made that Dave, Norman was the most hyped up of them all as he could be seen celebrating on the sidelines.

Minino quickly rushed to the goalkeeper while he was still lying on the floor and fell on his body before the rest of their teammates got to the area.

"I can't believe it, Jim, two penalty kicks from Sandro and he stopped both of them," Steve said. "Even after facing two penalty kicks in this match, Dave Richards still hasn't conceded any goal in the league this season."

"Yeah, I'm shocked too, I thought he was finally going to score that one after missing the first one, but I guess Dave was never going to make it easy for them." Jim expressed.

'Two penalty kicks in the first half, I just hope we don't concede another one.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously before he slowly got up from the floor and sent the ball flying into the pitch.

"That save from Dave may have given his team a little bit of breathing space to try and sort things out, but they're still one man down, I'm not sure their play is going to flow as smoothly as it did when they had all their players on their pitch." Steve articulated.

Steve was right, things were going to be a bit difficult for Unique FC now that they were one man down but it could have been worse if they didn't have Norman who had an idea to still cover up the void that was going to be left on the pitch by the absence of one player.

A lot of people were expecting the coach to pull out one of the players on the pitch and replace him with a defender to fill up the void Aima left as it was very much possible to play with only two midfielders, but Norman wasn't planning on doing any of that.

Rather, what he did was ask Frankie to remain mostly stationary on their side of the pitch, he could still cross the boundary line of course to help the attack but the coach advised him not to be in a haste to do that.

In this way, he could always return to fill that void in the defense whenever the need came up.

Unique FC were one man down, but they were still bossing the game in terms of possession and they were even doing it better now because they knew it was best to be extra careful when you're short of one man on the pitch.

The home side kept hold of the ball for seven whole minutes while looking for the best-attacking options and all Ronino FC players could do was chase the ball around with faces showing how frustrated they were. Nobody would be happy to blow two penalty kicks in a match after all.

Unique FC created really good chances with their passes, Mateo was at the receiving end of two of those chances but unfortunately, both of his attempts ended up hitting the post before going out, the third and last chance from the home side came from Fredinho.

Merino found his way past two players after receiving the ball from Minino, and just before he could run into the player heading toward him at full speed, he pushed the ball to Ferran who quickly lobbed it to Mateo on the left.

Mateo quickly brought the ball down with his chest before he sent it flying over to Fredinho inside the box.

The striker got a good head on the ball but he wasn't able to place it well as the ball was sent flying directly toward the goalkeeper who caught it with no problem at all.

"Oh, that could have been a great goal."

Ronino FC also managed to get a few chances but they weren't able to get any shots on target.

Their only short targets so far had come from Sandro alone, two from the penalty kicks and the other one a shot from outside the box which was a really easy save for Dave.

It could have been the other way round or at least evened out, but the first half came to an end with Unique FC still leading.

"You know, Steve, I expected Ronino FC to turn things around after seeing Aima get sent off, but Unique seems to still have control over the game." Steve expressed.

"Yeah, me too, but Norman's side really knows what they're doing, that said, it's not over yet anything can happen in the second half, we'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah."

'We made it through the first half, Catherine.' Dave said subconsciously as he made his way down the tunnel alongside his teammates.

Norman didn't have much to tell them besides his countermeasure which he always had prepared if the other team should try something in the second half, but Ronino FC's coach sure had a lot to talk to them about.

After getting a good rest in the locker rooms, the players began to make their way to the pitch to kick off the second half.

"Welcome back everyone to a match that has turned out to be unpredictable so far, the players are making their way to the pitch as we all can see and we will be finding out how the second half will play out soon." Jim expressed.

"I have a strange feeling about this second half," Dave muttered as he slowly made his way to his goalpost.

Fredinho was standing over the ball now, and as soon as he heard the whistle, he quickly passed the ball to Ferran who quickly pushed it to Luis Roberto.

"There's the whistle and we are on the way."

Luis Roberto pushed the ball forward before he tried to send it to Frankie, but his pass was clumsy and was easily intercepted by Xavier who didn't even waste any time to go for a direct shot.

Everyone was caught off guard, Dave was glued to the spot as the ball flew past him toward the right side and hit the crossbar before falling out for a goal kick.

"Oh, my goodness," Jim said as he let out a loud gasp.

He wasn't the only one, the entire stadium let out a loud gasp.

"What was that?" Dave muttered with a shocked expression on his face.