The seventy-first minute arrived quickly. Northcastle Rising Stars players were pushing their bodies to the limit, their faces slick with sweat and their muscles screaming.
On the other side, Hastings Coastal Academy had retreated into a defensive shell. They were no longer trying to score. They were simply trying to exist until the final whistle blew.
[> "Seventy-one minutes on the clock," <] Michael Harrison said, his voice straining to be heard over the chanting. [> "Hastings are parked. They have eleven men behind the ball. It's a wall of blue and white." <]
The fresh substitutes for Northcastle, Toby and the others, were buzzing around like hornets. Toby, the young winger who had replaced Suleiman, was full of nervous energy.
He received the ball near the touchline and immediately tried to take on his man. He was fast, his legs moving in a blur, but the Hastings defense was compact. There was no space to run into.
