T.J. and the Cup Run (9 page)

‘Of course she can,’ said Jamie, and Leila grinned.

‘Then I think we should put Rafi on for Rodrigo,’ Miss Berry continued. ‘You’ve had to do a lot of running too, Rodrigo, and you’ve played in that position before, haven’t you, Rafi?’

Rafi nodded. ‘How about you, Rob?’ Miss Berry asked. ‘Do you need a break?’

‘I am a bit tired . . .’ Rob began, but TJ interrupted him.

‘You can’t take Rob off,’ he exclaimed. ‘We’d still be losing if it wasn’t for him.’

All the others agreed. ‘If you keep making passes like that, we’ll beat them for sure,’ said Tulsi.

Miss Berry still looked doubtful. ‘What would Mr Wood have done?’ she said. Then she decided. ‘OK then, Rob. You stay on. Get ready, everyone.’

Extra time was like a battle. Neither team could get on top, and neither goalkeeper had to make a save. Both teams were so worried about giving a goal away that neither team dared to send many players forward to attack. It was no surprise when the final whistle blew and the referee told them they were going to decide
the
match on penalties.

‘Only the players who were on the pitch at the end of the game will take part,’ he said. ‘All six outfield players will take a penalty each.’

‘I’ll go last,’ Rob said. ‘I haven’t really practised penalties.’

‘OK,’ said Tulsi. ‘I’ll go first. I take them for Canby Girls.’

Leroy took the first penalty for Swinburne. Jamie got his fingers to it, but he couldn’t prevent Leroy from scoring. Then Tulsi stepped up. She shot hard and low, but the ball flashed past the post. ‘Don’t worry,’ said Jamie, as she hung her head. ‘I’m bound to stop one of them.’

But for the next three rounds nobody missed. TJ, Rafi and Danny all scored for Parkview, and Jamie had no chance with any of the Swinburne penalties. Then the bandy-legged Swinburne captain stepped up with
the
score 6–5 to Swinburne. TJ could see that he was nervous. He looked to Jamie’s left as he ran up to strike the ball, but Jamie wasn’t fooled. He dived to his right and made an easy save as the Parkview team celebrated. Leila and Rob looked at each other. Neither of them could afford to miss, and now it was Leila’s turn. Jamie gave her a thumbs-up. She placed the ball, took three steps back, then smashed the ball confidently into the net.

Six–six.

‘I wish I hadn’t said I’d go last,’ Rob said to TJ. ‘I was hoping we would have won by now. This is worse than going first. If Swinburne score now, then I’m going to have to score to keep us in the match.’

‘Do what you did in the game,’ TJ replied. ‘There’s the keeper, and the goalpost. Pretend they’re a bin and a tree and you’ll be fine.’

‘Trees don’t move,’ said Rob.

‘But if you put it right inside the post he’ll never get there.’

‘That’s what Tulsi tried to do, and look what happened.’

The last Swinburne player was ready. As he ran up, Jamie made his decision. He dived to his left, and the Parkview team gasped as they saw that the Swinburne player had struck his penalty at the middle of the goal. Somehow Jamie managed to flick out a leg as he dived. The ball ricocheted onto the bar and flew up into the air.

‘Yes!’ yelled TJ. ‘Brilliant, Jamie.’ The rest of the squad were leaping around, yelling and cheering. It was a crucial save. If Rob scored, then Parkview would be in the final.

Jamie ran over to Rob. ‘You can do it,’ he said. ‘I know you can.’

Rob didn’t reply. Looking very serious, he placed the ball on the spot. He looked up at the goalie, who was spreading his arms, trying to look big. Rob stepped back, took a deep breath, then ran up and hit his penalty.

The keeper dived the right way . . . but Rob’s shot was inch-perfect, right inside the post.

The rest of the Parkside team ran over to him. Jamie reached him first and hurled him to the ground as the rest of the squad piled on top, laughing and shouting. When they finally rolled away, Rob got shakily to his feet. ‘I think I need to sit down,’ he said.
‘And
I’ve got the match stats to do.’

‘You can leave it for a minute,’ TJ told him. ‘We’re in the Cup Final. And anyway, you have to shake hands with this lot.’

‘Well done,’ said Leroy ruefully, as he shook Rob’s hand. ‘Looks like TJ was right about you after all.’

‘I was,’ said TJ. ‘It’s lucky for us that Mr Potter put Rob in the team.’

‘He didn’t expect it to turn out like that though,’ said Jamie. ‘If he’d seen Rob take that penalty, he probably wouldn’t have believed it!’

‘I’m not sure I do,’ said Rob with a grin.

C
HAPTER
15

THE FOLLOWING MONDAY
morning Year Six were faced with their deputy head teacher again.

‘Mr Potter is off sick,’ Mrs Logan told them. ‘Your supply teacher should be here any minute. ‘Ah, here she is. Mrs Cleary.’

A very big woman with a huge shock of curly black hair and a long, flowery dress wafted into the classroom. ‘Good morning, children,’ she cooed. ‘I’m sure we’re all going to have a simply lovely time together.’

Mrs Logan gave her a piercing look as she left the room, but Mrs Cleary didn’t notice.

‘I’d like you all to write me a story,’ she said. ‘The title is “The Most Beautiful Thing.” Make your stories full of love and laughter.’

She sat down with a sigh, took out a book with a picture of two people kissing on the cover, and began to read.

There were two fights in the classroom during the morning and at lunch time Mrs Cleary locked herself in the toilet and refused to come out.

Each day that week a different supply teacher took charge: Mr Cooper went on and on about his holiday in America; Mrs Ravenstone showed them photos of her seven cats and three dogs; and Mr Jennings told them football was a waste of time and they should all be playing rugby.

And then, on Friday morning, Mrs Logan was waiting for them again. ‘I’m sorry, children,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid you have a supply teacher again today.’

TJ heard something odd in her voice and he looked up to see that she was smiling. Mrs Logan almost never smiled. She was looking towards the doorway. Everyone turned, and there was a huge cheer as Mr Wood came into the classroom.

‘What did Mrs Logan mean, “supply teacher”?’ asked Tulsi, when the deputy head had departed. ‘It means I’m here today, but I might not be here tomorrow,’ Mr Wood told them, and everyone groaned.

‘We don’t want any of those others back,’ said Jamie. ‘And we especially don’t want Mr—’ He stopped as he saw the look on Mr Wood’s face.

‘I thought I’d taught you better than that,’ Mr Wood said. ‘You’re being disrespectful, Jamie.’

‘Sorry, Mr Wood,’ said Jamie.

‘Good.’ Mr Wood smiled. ‘It’s great to be back,’ he said. ‘But I’m a bit worried about the team’s performances lately. I know there were special reasons for your nine–one defeat, and I know you improved in the semifinal at the weekend, but I still think you need extra training. We’ll get out on the field this afternoon and see if we can get things moving again.’

‘Mr Wood?’ said Tulsi. ‘Why can’t you stay and be our teacher for good?’ There was a chorus of agreement from the class.

‘Listen,’ said Mr Wood. ‘You’ll all have lots of different teachers in your time at school and maybe you won’t get on with some of them. But you’re a great bunch of kids. I’m sure you’ll do well whoever’s teaching you.’

He smiled again. ‘So stop fussing and get on with your work.’

‘It’s so unfair,’ said Tulsi at break time.

‘Mr Burrows should make sure Mr Wood stays. That’s what I think.’

‘You heard what he said,’ replied Jamie glumly. ‘He might only be here for one day. So we’d better make the most of it.’

Mr Wood pushed them all really hard in training. After jogging round the field and sprinting, everyone practised individual ball skills and then they worked on passing, shooting and ball control skills with partners. By the time they started playing 2 v 2 games in the 10-metre squares that were marked out on the field, TJ’s legs were starting to ache. ‘This is harder than the Player Development Centre,’ he said to Rob as they played a keep-ball game against Jamie and Tulsi.

Mr Wood smiled as he walked past them. ‘It’s not, you know. It’s just that you haven’t been doing much PE. You’re all a little unfit. But you’ll soon be back up to speed. Oh,
and
Rob, could you stop behind for a minute after school? I’ve got a message to give you.’

‘What message?’ asked Rob, but Mr Wood had already moved on to the next group.

After school TJ waited for Rob when he went in to talk to Mr Wood. He remembered his first day at Parkview when he’d walked home with Rob after school. It was amazing how much Rob had changed in a few months. He’d been a bit weedy back then, and he used to let other kids push him around. He was nothing like that now.

‘Hey, TJ,’ called Rob as he came out of the entrance with a shocked expression on his face. ‘You’ll never believe what’s happened.’

‘Try me,’ said TJ.

‘OK, you know when we went to watch Wanderers? And I told Mr Wood about my idea for Marshall switching wings?’

‘Yes,’ said TJ. ‘So?’

‘Well, Mr Wood did tell the goalkeeping coach and he said something to the manager and he thought about it and then he decided to do it. It was my idea and he did it. That’s awesome, isn’t it?’

‘Really?’ said TJ, stopping and staring at Rob. ‘Mr Wood told you that?’

‘And there’s more,’ Rob continued.

‘They’ve invited me to watch Wanderers play Manchester United this weekend. And I can take a friend so I’m going to take you. If you want to come.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ said TJ. ‘Of course I do. That’s amazing! Thanks, Rob.’

‘Do you want to hear the best bit?’ asked Rob. ‘After the match we’re going into the dressing room to meet all the players. It’s incredible.’

On Sunday morning Rob’s dad took Rob and TJ to the Wanderers ground. Mr Wood was
waiting
for them outside the entrance.

‘I’m going to show you round the facilities before the game starts,’ he told them, ‘and then we’ll have a slap-up lunch in the Premier Restaurant. After that we’ve got great seats in the stand. Does that sound OK? We’ll start with the pitch. This way.’

Mr Wood led them down a couple of flights of stairs, past the dressing rooms and into the tunnel. As they walked up it towards the oblong of sunlight at the end, TJ imagined how it would feel to be walking out as part of the Wanderers team. He could almost hear the crowd roaring ahead of him, and as he turned to Rob, he knew that he was thinking the same thing.

Wanderers defeated Manchester United by three goals to one, with two spectacular goals coming from Marshall Jones and a third from young Dexter Gordon. Half an hour after the game was over, Mr Wood led
the
boys downstairs to the Home dressing room. When the door opened, a round of applause greeted Rob and TJ, and the Wanderers manager stepped forward and held out his hand to Rob.

‘Fans are always trying to give me advice about tactics,’ he said. ‘And most of the time they don’t know what they’re talking about. But you came up with something I never even thought of. Thanks, lad.’

Rob turned red, and he couldn’t say a word.