Chapter 135 Last Minutes, Desperate Attempts

Both teams were leveled now with eighty-five minutes showing on the clock.

"A draw isn't enough, we have to win this match," Dave muttered as he watched his teammates pass the ball around in front of Lesica United's box as the guests had failed to clear their goal line so far.

Harry moved to the middle to allow Ferran some space to move to the left and receive the pass from Roland.

"Ferran," Jim said.

"Unique FC are seriously pushing for a winner here and they are really starting to put the pressure on Lesica United," Steve said.

"This is the way they were supposed to play right from the start, Lesica United can settle for a draw but they cannot, they must win if they want to be part of the conference league next season," Jim said.

Merino brought down the ball with his chest after receiving the cross from Ferran, two players quickly rushed to the winger to try and bring him down but before the players could get to him, he pulled the ball back and passed it to Minino.

"Minino."

Minino stood still with the ball for a few seconds, planning out the next move in his mind.

Fredinho and Merino made their way into the box as Adolf, who was standing in the middle of the pitch moved further down.

Minino waited for the player heading toward him before he quickly dribbled past him and sent the ball rolling to Adolf.

Adolf pushed forward with the ball a little before passing the ball to Harry who was closing up on the left flank.

All Harry needed was a single touch to send the ball to Ferran who had a player hot on his trail.

The midfielder caught hold of the ball and quickly paused, the player didn't expect him to suddenly pause like that as he kept running before stopping close to the line.

Ferran used the opportunity to turn and send in a low cross into the box.

Fredinho was the closest player to the ball, the player stretched his leg to send the ball toward the goal post but in the process of getting ready to take the shot, he got pushed and that resulted in him creating a sloppy shot that rolled straight into the hands of the goalkeeper.

"Oh, no that has gone terribly wrong, he should have put that away," Jim said.

"Yeah but it looks like he got pushed by Arnold in your box," Steve said.

Fredinho raised his hands and called for a foul after falling to the floor but there was no response from the referee as the goalkeeper quickly threw the ball to one of his teammates to continue play.

"The dude pushed me and no one is going to look into it," Fredinho said before quickly getting up from the floor.

"Looks like the referee's not giving it, play continues," Jim said.

Lesica United were trying to overrun Unique FC while they were still trying to fill in their positions properly after that attack.

The right midfielder running with the ball down the right flank had a little tussle with Harry but in the end, he won and continued moving.

The defenders were yet to properly fill their positions so Okafor had an opening to attack through the middle.

The midfielder moved further down with the ball and just before Ferran could close up on him from behind, he lobbed the ball toward the box with Aima, Okafor, and Adolf quickly heading toward the area.

"The chase for the ball is on, who will get there first?"

Adolf tried to sneakily pull the striker down but the striker had a mammoth of stamina and ended up pulling him down instead with his sight locked on the ball, but before he could get to it, Dave popped out from nowhere and quickly lobbed the ball to Minino.

"Dave steps up to stop the situation from turning into something worse," Jim said. "He's like, 'No way you're getting me in a one-on-one situation again,"

"That was decisive from Dave, I could recall when something similar to this happened in their home leg against Dynamo FC and he refused to step out from the box when he could have easily raced toward the ball and clear his line," Steve said.

"Well, there's a reason why they say he's way better now," Jim said.

After that last attempt from Lesica United, the game had been pretty full with neither side being able to do anything but so far Unique FC were still with the ball and had only lost it a few times and during those times, they managed to quickly recover it from a tired looking Lesica United side, they looked tired but they were putting up a good effort defensively to make sure that the game ended in a draw.

The clock had just hit ninety minutes now and so far, Unique FC had been unable to produce that winning goal.

"We just hit the ninetieth minute and Unique FC have not been able to produce that winning goal yet, they're starting to look desperate here," Jim said.

They were really starting to look desperate as Roland quickly crossed the ball to Minino who put his opponent on the floor to win the aerial duel before passing the ball to Ferran who quickly got past the player in front of him with a step over before quickly taking off down the middle.

"Ferran is on the run here!"

The player didn't back down as he continued chasing Ferran and grabbed him by his shirt before pulling him down with him.

There was no doubt that that was a foul as the referee blew his whistle while quickly making his way to the area.

"Ferran's been pulled down at the edge of the box and he doesn't look happy about it," Steve said.

Ferran's anger had gone beyond his control limit as he quickly got up from the floor and pushed down the player who pulled him down.

"This isn't rugby!"

"Hey, hey, Ferran, it's okay." Merino quickly rushed to his teammate and wrapped his arms around him to stop him from doing anything he may regret later.

Lesica United players also gathered around their teammates to prevent whatever was about to happen.

"Hey, calm down," Okafor said, moving closer to Ferran who also had about five of his teammates around him now.

Ferran just stared at him while letting out muffled pants and after staring at the striker for a while, he turned and walked away from the area.

The referee was waiting for the moment to get involved but it never happened.

"I'm glad that's taken care of quickly," Jim said.

The free kick was set to be taken as fast as possible as Unique FC had no time to waste.

"Looks like we'll be getting just four minutes of added time," Jim said as the official raised his board to show the number.

"I don't think Unique FC will be able to make a comeback with just four minutes left but still, this free kick can pack a punch," Steve said.

Ferran stood over the ball at the edge of the box waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he heard it, he quickly took six steps backward before he quickly raced toward the ball and sent it flying toward the goalpost with a power shot.

"Ferran!" Jim exclaimed.

The ball was sent flying toward the top right side of the goalpost but it wasn't exactly heading to the angle.

The goalkeeper sprang toward the ball at the right time and with the tip of his gloves, he was able to tip it over the bar for a corner kick.

"Oh, what a save from Carlo!" Jim exclaimed.

"Yeah, but they've got a corner kick to deal with now and Ferran is quickly moving the ball to the spot, and what's this? Dave's making his way to the career he's left his post empty."

"If anything goes wrong now, Unique FC will pay the price in full," Jim said.

There was no time to talk things over with anyone as Ferran quickly crossed the ball into the net as soon as he was sure that everybody was in position.

His ball was quickly cleared by one of the defenders forcing Dave to quickly move back a little as the ball fell to the feet of Minino who had a player trying to grab the ball from him from behind.

"Unique FC are still in possession of the ball here but Minino could lose it," Steve said.

Dave was the only one in the area who wasn't being marked as he was outside the box so the midfielder decided to pass the ball to him.

"Dave."

Dave got hold of the ball and quickly pushed forward with it while trying to find something that could help him.

There was no time to waste as two players were quickly heading toward him but before they could get to him, the goalkeeper sent the ball flying into the box.

***

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