150 The First Half Part 1 (2/2)

Martin Taylor, who was beside Gray, added on behalf of his partner, ”Poor Watford. For seven hundred thousand pounds, not only did they lose an exceptional young player, they also provided reinforcements for their competitor in the league.”

The Nottingham Forest players ran towards their newly-joined teammate, surrounding him and congratulating him for his brilliant performance. He had used his individual skills to bring the team a chance for comeback. This was the best way to integrate into the team!

The cheers gradually died down as Freddy Eastwood hugged the ball and stood in front of the penalty spot. He was the player appointed by Tang En for penalty kicks.

He carefully placed the ball on the white dot, and took a few steps back.

Everyone on the stadium's stands—the technical area by the side of the field, the audience in front of the television, and the listeners in front of the radio—all held their breaths, not daring to make a sound.

Tang En stood by the side of the field and clenched his fists until his knuckles turned pale.

Eastwood raised his head and looked at the goalpost, but his brain was replaying that scene at Wilford, when Tony Twain had said to him, ”Freddy, we have to win this afternoon's match, because this match is the starting point of that future!”

That future?

You are the legendary manager, while I am the legendary shooter?

Sounds great!

The whistle blew.

”Eastwood runs up to the ball… And he shoots! In the middle!”

Jaaskelainen predicted the wrong direction and leapt to the right side, but Eastwood had shot the ball towards where he was originally standing. The ball flew into the goalpost!

”GOOOOOOOOAL!!”

The stands went wild once again. This time, the camera lenses shook even more vigorously than they had before.

”YES! YES! Nottingham Forest has evened out the score! Their relentless offense has finally paid off! This is Freddy Eastwood's fourth goal in three consecutive matches! What a terrifying killer! Now, who still dares to say that he is an amateur player?”

After scoring, Eastwood rushed towards the technical area. His target was Tony Twain, who was currently in the midst of celebrating with the managerial staff.

Now I believe you, Boss! We will have that future!

When he was still about three or four meters away from Tang En, Eastwood leapt into the air in Tang En's direction. Tang En, who had just turned around, was unable to defend himself, and Eastwood collided with him. Afterwards, even more players joined in, causing Tang En and the coaching staff behind him to finally be unable to take the weight. As a result, all of them fell to the ground, and more than ten people were stacked on top of one another. It was a spectacular sight!

It was rare to see a player knocking over his manager after scoring a goal, with the rest of the team joining afterward. However, it had happened to Tony Twain twice. Seeing this, Taylor and Gray thought to themselves that it was no wonder Motson called Twain interesting. He seemed very well-liked by his players.

Motson, who was seated in the stands, was surrounded by cheering Nottingham Forest fans. Seeing the human pyramid in front of the technical area, Motson smiled.

Poor Tony…

The referee finally appeared to save Tang En. With his intervention, the fanatical Nottingham Forest players finally returned to the field. By the time Walker pulled Tang En up from the ground, his suit was already extremely wrinkled, and his white shirt had gotten dirty. One of his buttons had fallen off, his face was flushed red, and his hair was very unkempt. He looked like he had just finished doing a very different activity.

Seeing Tang En like that, even Walker could not help but burst out in laughter.

”Darn it!” Tang En panted heavily and waved his hands about. ”I want to add a new rule to the team's rules and regulations: Pushing down the manager and piling up into a pyramid as a form of celebration is strictly prohibited! My clothes!” He unfolded his hands to express his ”miserable state” to Walker, but instead caused an even louder wave of laughter from the technical area and the substitutes' bench.

Martin Taylor, who was on the commentator's seat, had the same opinion as Tang En. He laughed and said, ”I think Mr. Twain should suggest that FIFA prohibit using these kinds of celebration methods after scoring a goal, especially if the person at the bottom is the manager…”

Gray, who was beside him, did not care that it was a live broadcast. He leaned on the table and started laughing loudly.

※※※

Nottingham Forest, who had equalized the score, very much wanted to ride the momentum and score more goals, but the referee saved Bolton by blowing the whistle and signifying the end of the first half.

”1:1! Looking at the process, I would guess that neither team is too happy with the progress. But from the results, this is a very fair score. Tony Twain and Sam Allardyce will be making use of these fifteen minutes of half time to make some necessary adjustments. Let's rest for a short while as we look forward to an even more exciting face off in the second half!

”See you in fifteen minutes time.”

As soon as Martin Taylor took off his soundproof headphones, waves of loud noises assaulted his ears, taking his breath away.

”An atmosphere like this at City Ground Stadium,” He muttered to himself. ”Just how many years has it been since we last saw something like this?” Even the knowledgeable Taylor could not remember.

”Hey, Martin! I think Motson's right; Twain is indeed a very interesting fellow. I've commentated football matches for many, many years, but I've never seen an entire team of players collectively rush to their manager and stack on top of him like that! For Tony Twain to be so popular with the players, he must have cast some magic! Just like Harry Potter!” Andy Gray, who had just taken off his earphones, continued to talk non-stop as though he was in the midst of commentating a match.

Taylor smiled and said, ”If Twain knows magic, then he wouldn't have to tie with Bolton in the first half. He could just win with a wave of his wand!” Taylor waved his hands. ”Let's go get a drink, Andy. Who knows; we might even meet Motson. He understands Twain better than both of us combined. Whether or not Tony Twain knows magic, we'll find out when you ask him.”