122 The Consequence Of Provocation Part 1 (2/2)

”That's good news,” Walker smiled. ”If the referees decided to cancel the second half and postpone the game, Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain would suffer the biggest blow.”

Seeing Walker's response, the fourth official stopped and said to him, ”I too think it's good news, Mr. Manager. I also hope that in the second half we will all see a match, and nothing else. So, please tell your manager to calm down on the sidelines.”

Walker shrugged his shoulders, ”Do you plan to say the same thing to the Millwall manager and their fans, Mr. Referee?”

This question stumped the fourth official and he did not know how to answer. He froze for a moment, and then shook his head, ”I will report all the facts of this game to the Football Association. Good-bye, Mr. Manager.” Then he turned and left.

Looking at the back of this man, Walker laughed and said loudly, ”You should wish Mr. McLeary good luck!”

He turned and walked toward the locker room, opened the door, and found that Twain was almost done talking.

”Tony, the second half will start on time.” He brought the best news to Tang En.

Tang En smiled. ”That's fantastic! Guys, you don't have to worry about not being able to give vent to your rage! Do you still remember everything I said?”

”We remember, boss!” The players answered loudly.

”Close your eyes and think about how they've treated us in the first half! What do you recall? How do you feel?” Tang En was like a virtuoso guiding the players to reach the desired state that he wanted.

Michael Dawson raised his clenched fist and trembled slightly. ”I... I want to get out there and play! Chief! I want to shut those b*stards up!”

”Then let's do it! Wipe them out!” Tang En and Walker stepped aside in the doorway and the players all rushed out. ”Let them know... the consequence of provoking us!”

※※※

After the second half of the game kicked off, the hissing sounds from the Millwall fans in the stands did not seem to diminish and some singing voices could even be heard insulting Gavin. But Tang En was no longer in competition with the fans in the stands behind the technical area. He stood on the sidelines, with his hands in the pockets and watched the ongoing game with a grim face.

Looking at him, he seemed to be very worried about the outcome of the game because his team was behind by a goal. McLeary sat in the technical area with his legs crossed, getting ready to enjoy a good show.

But... whose good show was it going to be?

Cahill attempted to dribble the ball to break through from the middle zone. But he was blocked out by Gunnarsson and Bopp in unison at the goal area. Gunnarsson who seized the ball, passed it to Andy Reid on the left wing. Reid's strength was in long passes, and he followed Twain's instruction and directly shot it to Gareth Taylor in front.

The man defending against Taylor now was not Muscat, but young Mark Phillips, who could not compare with Taylor both in terms of experience and physical size. The two players had not even jumped, and he had already lost first—Taylor squeezed in front of him and he completely missed his position!

Now Taylor had not entered the penalty area yet, so it was impossible to do a header straight away. During his struggle with Phillips for the position, he saw Rebrov running up from behind, and Wise followed him closely behind. Should he pass the ball to him?

When he saw Reid pass the ball to Taylor, Rebrov ran forward, and Wise, with ample experience, guessed the Forest team's tactic almost instantaneously and had followed up, too. This created a huge problem for the Ukrainian player in his next move.

Stopped the ball? It would likely to be cut off by Wise. That little man's feet were too fast! And now there were not many people on the Millwall defensive line. He had hoped to directly wade into it, seize the opportunity to break through those defenders who were too close to each other, and then face the goalkeeper. It looked like this was out of the question now.

In order not to let Wise cut off the football, he could only stop the football on the wing. Although he could still retain the possession of the ball, he would also lose the best opportunity for an offense.

What was he going to do?

When Collymore left, Rebrov originally thought that his days on the Forest team were numbered. However, he did not expect that in the previous match, the new manager's words and a change of position had let him regain a new lease on life. Yes, though he was originally a striker, he did not obtain the kind of results that corresponded with the title of a striker when he played for Tottenham Hotspur. It was the same in the Forest team. Just when he began to doubt his ability, Twain told him to move his position backward by 20 meters and he would see a completely different world.