My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 387 Back Into It

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After that equalizer from Fredinho, the referee blew his whistle twice to bring the first half to an end.

"That was quite the first half, don't you think, Steve?"

"Yeah, for a second there I thought West Ham were going to end the first half but then Unique just came up with that unexpected goal, sure that goal fell to Fredinho by luck, but he did really well to put it away." Steve expressed.

"Yeah, I hope we can see more of this in the second half, no that doesn't sound right, I hope West Ham United puts up more of a fight in the second half." Jim expressed. "Unique FC looked superior throughout this half, but at least, looking on the bright side, they're still on level terms with Unique FC after the first half, their matches with Villarreal and Lazio FC didn't go so well for them in both halves."

Unique FC players were all in the locker room now with Norman standing in front of them as expected.

He had his hands crossed and the expression on his face was a testament to how disappointed he was with the team's first-half performance, but did he really have anyone to blame but himself?

If he wanted a first half with a couple of goals to keep them ahead then he should have put the person who makes his attack work better.

They did quite well defensively given the fact that the goal they conceded came from a penalty kick but that chance might have turned into a goal anyway.

"And again, you guys still have that problem of putting away good chances, what was that out there, Fred?"

"I hit it a little too hard." The striker muttered.

"Of course, you did," Norman said. "So, what you all are saying is that if Mateo decides to leave the club next season, you'll start struggling to score the necessary goals needed to win a match."

"Well, to be fair, coach, we did beat Lesica United to qualify for this competition plus, we don't even have a proper backup left winger to come in for Mateo in times like this, we have lots of midfielders but hardly any proper wingers." Minino expressed.

"You make a good point, but still, Fredinho does quite well as a left winger, the main problem is the finishing from you guys, you play well but your finishing is horrendous."

"Well, there you have your problem, coach, a midfielder's primary role isn't to finish nor is a winger's even though they get involved in it a lot of times," Minino said.

After hearing Minino say that, Norman let out a sigh before moving on to tell the team his idea to help them improve their finishing because he wasn't planning on bringing on Mateo early in the second half.

He understood what Minino just said quite well, the main problem was the strikers and he seemed to have forgotten about that for a while because of the way Mateo covered up for them during most of their matches.

Norman ran the players through his plan as quickly as possible before leaving them to rest for a bit before the match resumed.

The match was about to resume as the players from both teams were heading toward the tunnel's exit now.

<Yeah, winning the Conference League means you'll get an automatic qualification to the Europa League if you don't finish in the top four in the League>

'Cool, but I doubt we'll be unable to finish in the top four, we're fighting for the league this season this season, not the top four, it's a really big stretch but winning all this competition will be super nice and then we'll be the first Bilbeth Premier League team to win the treble.'

<It's nice to see that you seriously have your sights set on something but just like you said, it's a stretch but that doesn't mean it's impossible, because while you're still in the required competitions, there is a chance>

'Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can at least win one of them but missing out on all of them after coming this far is going to be really excruciating.'

<Well, then, you'll have to start with this one, winning this match will put you in a good spot for qualifying for the next rounds depending on the outcome of the other match>

'Well, it's not really up to me to decide if we can win this match, if we were leading, that would be a different case, but sure, I'll try my best to give them a boost from back here whenever I get the chance.' The goalkeeper replied subconsciously as he made his way into the pitch.

"Welcome back everyone, the second half of the match is about to kick off, as we can see the players are all on the pitch now." Jim expressed.

Since West Ham United started the match from the kick-off spot in the first half, Unique FC were going to be the ones doing it in this half.

Fred was standing over the now waiting for the referee's whistle, and as soon as the official made sure that everything was ready and everyone was in position, he blew his whistle.

"There's the whistle and we are back into the game."

Fred quickly pushed the ball to Minino who immediately sent it rolling back to Martinez before Sunblade could get to him.

"Unique FC will want to take the lead as fast as possible and so will West Ham United, time to see what they both have in store for us."

Unique FC weren't making any attempt to attack so far and were just passing the ball around while looking for a way to take their opponents by surprise.

It didn't take long before West Ham United began to get aggressive with the way they were chasing the ball.

Unique FC didn't want to lose the ball, so they cooperated with getting pushed back until the ball got to Roland who sent it rolling back to Dave before Ray could get to him.

"Back to Dave."

Dave quickly moved a little to the right with the ball and just before Felipe could get to him, he sent the ball flying over to Minino.

Minino quickly took off down the right with the ball and just before he could run into the midfielder in his path, he sent the ball rolling to Henry who sent it rolling to Fred with a single touch.

Fred was in a tough spot at that moment so he had to send it back to Henry who went for Fredinho this time.

Fredinho got his foot on the ball and quickly tried to run past the right back before he changed his mind and pushed the ball down the middle a little before firing it toward the goalpost.

"Fredinho!"

The goalkeeper dived toward the right side to keep the ball out, but there was no need as the ball ended up making slight contact with the woodwork before rolling out for a goal kick.

"Oh, that was so close, if only that had a little more accuracy to it."

The match had just entered the fifty-fifth minute now and so far Unique FC were still dominating the game but they were still having problems scoring.

West Ham United were seeing less and less of the ball as time went by.

Minino got hold of the ball from Merino after the winger nearly lost it at the edge of the box, and without hesitation, the midfielder fired it toward the goalpost.

The ball was sent flying directly toward the goalkeeper who didn't have any choice but to punch it out. At least he didn't have to dive.

"He should have added a little precision to that but I guess West Ham United players are glad he didn't," Jim said.

"Yeah, but now they have a corner kick to deal with."

Henry was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he heard it, he slowly took two steps backward before he closed up on the ball and sent it flying in.

The ball flew toward the middle and was nodded back by a West Ham United defender but it wasn't all over as the ball flew toward Minino who pulled his leg back and sent the volley flying toward the goalpost.

The ball was sent flying toward the right side of the goalpost as the goalkeeper dived toward it and even got his hand on it, but it was just too much for him as the ball ended up smashing past his hands before falling into the goalpost.

As soon as that ball went in, Minino raced to the sidelines and did a full-body slide.

"What a deadly strike! He has been looking for it since the start of the match and he just got it!" Jim exclaimed.

"Yeah, the goalkeeper just couldn't keep hold of it and now they're behind," Steve commented.

Dave couldn't contain his joy back at his goalpost as he raised both of his hands before screaming,

"Yes!"

***

Mass release goals

For every set of gifts worth 3000 coins, I will do a three chapters mass release.

Every 100 GT= 4 chapters mass release.