Goal To Goal

This is a short story, a description really, of a football(soccer) match and all the emotions connected with it.

GOAL TO GOAL

May 23rd, 2002
Nottingham,UK

It was a snowy night. The English Blue Square Conference football league play-off was taking place between Burton Albion and Nottingham Forest. All fans were cheering for a home win. The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric. A lot was at stake, because the winner would  be promoted to the English Division 2. The match was heading for half-time. Nottingham Forest had got an early lead through captain Ben Wallace's well directed free-kick, from 30 yards out, which found the back of the net. Burton then equalized 5 minutes later through a superb header by Sonny Fernandez. Forest had chance after chance after that, without being able to score another goal.
The Burton manager Danny Cotsman was shouting at his defenders. They had been assigned a special task, a task to contain Forest's rising new talent, a 18 year old known by the name of Martin Davies. All eyes were on this gifted English teenager, who, in his first season at the club, had caught many opponents and team-mates by surprise. He almost single-handedly guided Nottingham Forest to 4th in the blue square league table by scoring 35 goals during the course of the season. His manager, Owen Fennie, was mightly impressed by the skill and speed of Martin. So, as it was, here they were, as the whistle blew for half-time at Nottingham, 1-1 in the play-off final. Owen Fennie led his team into the changing room.

The mood in the camp was positive. They were not leading but had many chances and the momentum clearly was with them. Martin was frustrated at not being able to score yet. Owen turned to his boys for a team-talk

"So far, so good lads"  said Owen to his boys, who looked a cheerful lot  ''But we musn't get complacent, you know''

''Yeaahh''  shouted the team together.

''Now, Dennis, you will partner Ben upfront. Place the ball into the area after they lose the off-side trap, and that is where Martin, you come into the picture''  finished Owen

''Got it sir''  mumbled Martin

''I said don't call me 'sir'  Martin, just Owen'' said Owen  ''So head out, we have got a game to win''

The men trudged into the battlefield, into the noisy home supporters who were screaming things like 'Ben the hero' and 'Martin!Martin!'. The whistle blew and they kicked off.
The first 15 minutes of the second half was evenly contested. Burton had learned from their defensive mistakes, it seemed,and they were now pounding the ball into Forest's half more often. The managers on the sidelines looked tense. As the hour mark was crossed, the score was still 1-1. Then, a break away move on the counter-attack saw Ben running towards Burton's goal. Martin on his left, Dennis to his right, exactly what the plan was. Ben almost released his shot on goal, but passed it to Dennis at the very last moment, leaving the defender wrong footed. Dennis crossed the ball into the box to an eagerly waiting Martin, who leaped up towards the ball in the air, stuck his head out, connected sweetly to the ball, which was on its way past Brad Jones into the back of the net. GOOOOOAAAAAALLLL!!!!!!!
The stadium erupted. Screaming fans shouted and shrieked. Martin was being congratulated by his team-mates. The giant scoreboard kept on flashing :MARTIN DAVIES 36TH GOAL OF THE SEASON!
Owen Fennie was happy but was not showing it. There were still 30 minutes to hold on.
But he needn't have worried. The last goal demoralised the Burton defenders. Ben scored 5 minutes later, Dennis converted a penalty and Bassong Belikas added another to make the final score 5-1. Owen Fennie was jubilant. He had guided the team to their first appearance in English Division 2 in more than 20 years. The fans were thunderous. The noise inside the stadium was unbelievable. The opposite manager was furious with his players. They had  lost in the play-off finals for 3 years running now. It was all over for them once again.

Inside the changing room, the party had begun. Players hugging each other, girlfriends, wives,and children all were present there. Even the manager was celebrating. Martin was the man of the moment. Every team member went to congratulate him on a brilliant season for the club. But he had eyes only for the one whom he spotted coming thorough the door. It was his 17 year old, high-school girlfriend, Tracy. They looked at each other for a split second before Martin grabbed her and kissed her passionately. Amidst hooting and shouting from his team-mates, they finally broke apart and walked together hand-in hand out of stadium.

Author's Note

IMPORTANT:All the names,events described here a fictional, I just made it up, none of it never happened. And if you're wondering, No, I don't support Nottingham Forest!

Reviews

[JENY]

Very nice….
Beatiful……
I am not good at sports…
But could imbibe the spirit behind it…….

[SetApartGirl]

totally relateable (soccer player in the middle of an intensive season) and aside from a few minor issues, you really have a good story here.

[Craig Bates]

Okay, I see what you're trying to do here but I'm not sure you quite capture the feel of lower league football. I have a lot to say about this, mostly because football is so close to me and I applaud you for writing about it but I hope you take what I say as trying to be constructive and with a pinch of salt if you don't want my opinions!

First off I'm going to look from a technical perspective as a football fan and suggest that maybe it would have been a better idea to either choose to write about teams who were actually involved in a particular playoff match or to completely make up two teams. As it is, I find it very distracting. In fact, there wasn't a conference playoff in 2002 so it probably would have been better to make it up completely. Also the final would not be played in Nottingham in the situation you describe (as this would be unfair on the Burton fans) - so, for example, the 2003 final, the inaugural conference playoff between Dagenham and Doncaster, was played in Stoke.

Then there are certain things that make this feel like an unauthentic match experience to me. The way the manager talks to the players feels quite unrealistic and so do the players' responses. Have you ever been in a dressing room at half-time? It tends to involve lots of passion, especially in a high-pressure game. Now isn't the time for minute tactical detail - that's been dealt with pre-match - it's about getting the lads up for it. I wasn't sold on the fan chants either. Football fans are more imaginative than just shouting 'Ben the hero' - that'd get boring pretty quickly, don't you think? They sing to the tune of famous songs and change the words, they shout at the referee, at the other team and their fans.

Lastly, the changing room tends to be quite a closed-off place and I have a hard time believing all the families are down there right away. If you've ever seen footage of a celebrating team before, it tends to involve shouting, nudity and a lot of champagne! Not really a family environment.

I think you have the germ of a potentially very good story here, I just think some things needed thinking through. I don't mean to sound harsh in all of that ^ and I hope you find at least some of it helpful!

[Frantzuu]

omg great story, I love soccerrrrrrr, it's my life. :D

[Havatara]

I liked the story. Even though I know nothing about soccer you made me want to turn on the soccer channel and watch a game. Good job.

[Anski]

gosh I miss this sport
U brought back memories, nice job:)))

[Huggy Bear]

I really like this story. It is very detailed and emotionally driven:)

[Francez]

Very well written! You successfully captured the movements and the tension of the game, I could easily picture it in my mind.

One thing you could improve here is to correctly divide your story to paragraphs. ;-)
The first block, for example, is way too long. You could easily split it into 3-4 paragraphs, making it more readable and giving more emphasize to the important details in your story.

[Veronica]

Cool read, I'm guessing by how good you wrote this you played this sport before maybe as a little kid?

[Terence Foster]

varry well wriiten
Liked it (/: