T.J. and the Winning Goal Read online

  Outside on the playground that afternoon Mr Wood laid out rows of cones, then he sent Year Six off to jog around the field to warm up. ‘Line up here,’ he said when they returned.

  TJ looked along the line and saw that nobody was breathing hard. They were all definitely fitter than before. ‘When you hear a beep, run to the next set of cones,’ Mr Wood said. ‘At the next beep you turn and run back. The beeps will speed up, and once you’ve been late for two beeps I’ll call you out. Everyone ready? Off you go.’

  Rob was running alongside TJ.

  ‘Definitely better,’ he said after the first few runs, glancing at his watch. ‘Last time, the first person dropped out after two minutes. We’ve been going for four already.’

  Just as Rob spoke TJ heard Mr Wood’s whistle and the first person jogged over to wait beside him. Slowly at first, other people dropped behind the beats until only about half the class were left. TJ looked along the line again. ‘Jamie’s still going,’ TJ said to Rob. Jamie had been one of the first to go before.

  ‘What do you expect?’ said Rob, smiling, as they turned to the beep. ‘After all that trouble we went to, to help him get fit.’

  The next beep caught TJ by surprise. He was late. ‘Get a move on,’ said Rob, gritting his teeth. ‘This is where it starts to hurt.’

  ‘Come on, Tulsi,’ called Mr Wood. ‘You can do it!’

  The group waiting beside Mr Wood had grown. Everyone who was still running had played in the school team at some time. Beside Rob and TJ there were Rafi and Portuguese Rodrigo, and Tommy the skateboarder. They were urging each other on in a group. Then came Jamie, Ariyan, Leila, Ebony, Cameron, Danny and Tulsi.

  But Tulsi was falling behind. TJ couldn’t believe it, but he had no breath to say anything more to Rob. At the next beep they heard the whistle, and Tulsi was walking back to Mr Wood.

  The beeps came faster and faster. Now there were only four runners left: TJ, Jamie, Rob and Rodrigo. At the next beep Rodrigo and Jamie were finished, but TJ hardly noticed. All he could think of were those terrible beeps. He saw Rob pull half a metre ahead of him, and sure enough at the next turn Rob was on time and TJ was half a second late. TJ put on a spurt and caught up with Rob, but his lungs were bursting and his muscles felt as if they were on fire. Another beep, and another, and suddenly TJ knew he was beaten. His legs simply wouldn’t do what he told them any more. He struggled to the side and bent over, gasping for air, as the whole class applauded Rob, turning, running, turning, and finally stopping.

  ‘Absolutely fantastic,’ said Mr Wood. ‘I haven’t checked the scores properly yet, but I’m pretty sure that every single one of you has improved.’

  ‘I haven’t,’ muttered Tulsi.

  ‘But you have,’ Mr Wood told her. ‘It’s just that everyone else has too. Now let’s get the footballs out and practise some skills.’

  CHAPTER 4

  ‘CHEER UP,’ JAMIE said to Tulsi, as they walked over to the playing field. ‘It’s not as bad as it seems. You heard what Mr Wood said. We’re all much fitter. And we’ll need to be for the tournament.’

  ‘But I liked being the fittest person in the school,’ replied Tulsi. ‘I thought I still was.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Jamie. ‘We can be partners. You’re definitely better at ball control than me. You can help me.’

  ‘It’s a good thing we’ve got Jamie,’ TJ said to Rob, as they picked up a ball and went to work in one of the ten-metre squares marked out on the field. ‘If anyone can make Tulsi feel better it’s him.’

  Rob nodded in agreement. ‘We’d better start,’ he said. ‘What did Mr Wood tell us to do?’

  ‘Left foot then right foot,’ TJ replied. ‘Pass and control. Then pass, control and move.’

  They had only been working for a couple of minutes when Rob stopped. He put his foot on the ball and pointed at the playground. ‘Who’s that?’ he asked.

  TJ looked where Rob was pointing. The head teacher, Mr Burrows, was walking towards them with a young man and a taller bald one who had an enormous camera slung around his neck. Mr Wood stopped the session and called everyone together.

  ‘As you know,’ Mr Burrows said, ‘the inspectors have produced a truly excellent report on our school. When I told our local paper about it they were very keen to do a feature on us. And about all of you. This is Mr, er . . .’

  ‘Call me Dan,’ said the young man, whipping a notebook from his pocket.

  ‘Just like yours,’ TJ whispered to Rob.

  ‘You can keep on with what you were doing,’ Dan said. ‘Barry here’ll come round and take some snaps.’

  ‘Off you go, everyone,’ Mr Burrows urged them. ‘Our training is second to none,’ TJ heard him saying to the reporter. ‘Our Mr Wood is a magnificent coach . . .’

  TJ and Rob went back to work. They carried on as if it was just a normal Games lesson, though it wasn’t easy to concentrate, as the photographer circled around them and the flash from the camera dazzled them. ‘That’ll do,’ Mr Wood said finally. ‘You’ve worked hard this afternoon. Let’s have some fun to finish off. Five-a-side. I’ll pick the teams.’

  TJ found himself in a team with Rafi, Tommy, Cameron and Leila. ‘I’ll go in goal,’ Leila volunteered. ‘I’d like to try. I’ve never done it before.’

  ‘We’ll swap if you let one in,’ TJ said, as they put on green training bibs. The other team were in red, and they had Jamie in goal, Tulsi up front and Rob in midfield.

  ‘This is going to be tough,’ Rafi said.

  ‘Not if you mark Tulsi properly,’ TJ replied. ‘Rob told me what to do, so it’ll serve him right if they lose. Cameron, you mark her. Tommy, you just have to be ready if she goes past Cameron. You don’t need to worry about whoever you were marking, because when Tulsi’s in on goal she only thinks about one thing – scoring.’

  The others nodded. ‘It might just work,’ Cameron said.

  The Greens kicked off with TJ playing on his own up front. He gave the ball to Rafi who set off on a mazy dribble and then back-heeled it to Leila. Leila played the ball quickly to TJ’s feet and he slipped past Rob with a lightning burst of speed. Rob might be able to keep going longer, thought TJ, but I bet I’ll always beat him over twenty metres.

  He considered shooting, but then he looked up and saw Jamie. He was perfectly positioned in front of his goal, so TJ pulled the ball back for Rafi who was racing towards the penalty area at top speed. It would have been perfect if Rafi hadn’t tripped over the ball. He tumbled head over heels two or three times and the ball trickled harmlessly forward to a very relieved Jamie, who grinned. ‘Close!’ he said, laughing, as Rafi jumped to his feet. ‘You’re supposed to kick it, not fall over it!’

  Before Rafi could think of a clever reply, Jamie had rolled the ball to Ariyan and Rafi had to chase back hard. But he couldn’t catch Ariyan in time and Ariyan gave the ball to Rob who instantly snapped a pass to Tulsi. She turned and came face to face with Cameron. Cameron hesitated as Tulsi took the ball towards him, and Tulsi took her chance, jumping neatly over his outstretched foot.

  ‘Yes!’ cried Rob, sprinting into space down the right wing. But Tulsi ignored him. She could see the goal and she was going to shoot. She was a striker, after all! She took one final touch – and Tommy whipped the ball away from her. She was already committed to the shot, but her foot connected with empty air and she landed flat on her back with a thump that knocked all the breath out of her – just as the camera flashed.

  When the game finished, the photographer was waiting at the edge of the pitch. ‘I’ll need some names,’ he said. ‘We have to make sure everyone knows who you are. Your teachers will check with your mums and dads if it’s OK for you to have your pictures in the paper.’

  ‘Please,’ said Tulsi. ‘You won’t use that picture you took of me, will you? When I fell over.’

  ‘Of course not, love,’ replied the photographer. ‘I thought you were going to score a brilliant goal. There’s bound to be a better one than that
. Now, tell me how to spell your name . . .’

  CHAPTER 5

  LATER THAT WEEK Mr Wood announced the squad for a friendly match against their old rivals, Hillside School. ‘At least I’m in the team,’ Tulsi said gloomily. ‘I was beginning to think I wouldn’t be.’

  ‘Don’t worry so much,’ Jamie told her. ‘You know you’re our star striker.’

  ‘Well, I don’t feel like one,’ Tulsi replied.

  The friendly match was being played on Friday afternoon at Parkview. Mr Coggins, the caretaker, was hard at work all Friday morning preparing the pitch and marking out the white lines. At lunch time TJ was surprised to see Mr Wood walk out onto the playground. TJ and his friends were kicking Rafi’s ball around as usual.

  ‘Tulsi,’ Mr Wood said. ‘Have you got a few minutes?’

  ‘OK,’ she said. ‘What’s it about?’

  But Mr Wood didn’t reply, and when Tulsi returned she didn’t want to talk.

  ‘What did he want?’ asked Jamie.

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Come on, Tulsi,’ Rafi said. ‘He wouldn’t have called you inside for nothing, would he?’

  ‘Let’s have a penalty competition,’ Tulsi said, grabbing the ball from Rafi. ‘I feel like kicking something really hard. Who’s going in goal?’

  ‘Not me,’ said Rafi. ‘Not if you’re in that kind of mood.’

  ‘I’m not scared,’ laughed Jamie. ‘It’ll be good practice for this afternoon.’

  He stood in front of the goalposts painted on the wall and saved every one of Tulsi’s first four shots. Each shot was harder than the one before, and with every save Tulsi’s face darkened. She ran up and hit her fifth penalty and the ball flew up and over the wall into the garden beyond. They all stared after it. There was a thud as the ball hit a wall, and then a loud clattering and the outraged miaow of a cat.

  Tulsi put her hands to her head. They waited for angry shouts from the garden, but none came. ‘It’ll be OK,’ Jamie said. ‘They must be out. They’ll just chuck it back later.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ Tulsi said. ‘You heard the noise. I bet something’s broken and now I’m going to be in trouble. You know I am.’

  Tulsi walked away. ‘What’s up with her?’ said Rafi. ‘It’s my ball she’s lost. I’m the one who should be complaining.’

  ‘Tulsi’s fed up, that’s all,’ said TJ. ‘I don’t know what Mr Wood said to her, but it definitely put her in a bad mood.’

  At two o’clock TJ looked out of the classroom window and saw the Hillside minibus arriving. Since Mr Wood had started the school team at the beginning of the year they had played against Hillside more than any other team, and because Hillside was the nearest school to Parkview they often met the kids from Hillside for kickarounds in the park. One of their players, Deng, went to the same Player Development Centre as TJ and Jamie. It was funny, thought TJ, but the Hillside players almost felt like friends now. At least until the match began.

  As they got changed TJ couldn’t help thinking that it was a shame Danny wasn’t in the squad. He hadn’t been coming to training lately, so it wasn’t surprising that Mr Wood hadn’t picked him. Tommy and Rodrigo were both excellent defenders, especially when they had won the ball and were attacking, but if you needed someone to mark an opposition player out of the game then Danny was the best. If they were going to do well in the Regional Tournament they were going to need all their best players.

  ‘Come on, TJ,’ called Jamie from the door. TJ looked up and realized that everyone had gone. ‘What were you doing?’ asked Jamie, as they walked outside.

  ‘Thinking,’ said TJ. ‘About Danny. I know you don’t like him much, but I still think he’s our best defender. I don’t know why he stopped coming to training.’

  ‘There’s no point worrying about that now,’ Jamie told him, breaking into a run. ‘Come on, Mr Wood’s waiting.’

  As they warmed up TJ checked out the Hillside team and was relieved to see that none of their players were new. He remembered how Deng had arrived at Hillside in the middle of the previous term, turning Hillside from a good side into a formidable one with his lightning speed and wonderful touch. But then Parkview had discovered their own midfield genius in Rob, and that had made all the difference in the Cup Final. He was sure they could beat Hillside today, but they’d need to be at their best.

  ‘OK,’ said Mr Wood. ‘We’ll start with Tommy and Rodrigo in defence. Then Rafi and Rob in midfield and TJ and Tulsi up front. Jamie in goal. You all know your jobs so show me what you can do. Oh, and by the way, Rob, I’ve found someone to keep track of the match stats for you. Here he comes now.’

  They all looked round and there was Mr Coggins. ‘Mr Wood’s given me a list,’ he told them. ‘I’ll record goal attempts, passes, assists, corners, goal kicks . . .’

  ‘It’s OK, Mr C,’ Mr Wood told him. ‘We get the picture.’

  ‘Mr Coggins,’ said Rob. ‘What’s that you’re wearing?’

  ‘This?’ said Mr Coggins. ‘It’s my old team blazer, that’s what this is.’

  The blazer had a big gold badge on the breast pocket. ‘I was a good footballer when I was young,’ Mr Coggins said. ‘One of these days I’m going to tell you all about it. I—’

  ‘Not right now, though,’ Mr Wood interrupted with a smile. ‘I think Mrs Singh is waiting to kick off. Tulsi, you can be captain today. And remember what we talked about. I know you can do it.’

  CHAPTER 6

  AS SOON AS the match started TJ knew that this was the best Parkview had ever played. When Krissy Barton, the Hillside captain, passed the ball back to Deng in midfield Rafi was onto him at once, giving Deng no time at all, and when Deng turned away from Rafi, Rob was waiting. He stole the ball from Deng’s feet and before anyone could challenge him he’d played it all the way across the field to Tommy, who was moving forward on the right wing.

  Tommy clipped a pass back to Rafi, who slid the ball over to Rodrigo, who hit it first time to TJ. The Hillside players chased and harried, but hard as they tried, they couldn’t even touch the ball. Mr Coggins noted down every pass in his notebook and the little kids from Reception who had come out to watch the game started counting out loud with a bit of help from their teacher.

  The ball was back with Rob. He looked up and saw Tulsi making a diagonal run towards the far corner flag. Billy Martin, Hillside’s tall blond defender, ran with her. TJ saw the space opening up in the centre of the pitch where Tulsi usually waited, and he took off at top speed. Rob saw his run and slotted the ball neatly through the crowded centre of the pitch into TJ’s path. TJ didn’t need to take a touch. As the goalkeeper raced out towards him he side-footed the ball past him into the net.

  TJ flung his arms in the air, then ran to congratulate Rob on the pass. The Reception children on the touchline were shouting and cheering and running round in circles. ‘We need to watch out,’ Rob said, grinning. ‘There might be a pitch invasion.’

  ‘Nice run, Tulsi,’ TJ said, as they waited for Hillside to restart the game. ‘You’ve never done that before.’

  ‘I thought Rob would play the ball into the corner,’ Tulsi said.

  ‘Yeah, and that’s what their defenders thought too,’ replied TJ. ‘We wouldn’t have scored if you hadn’t done that.’

  ‘You wouldn’t have scored, that’s what you mean,’ said Tulsi. ‘If Rob had passed to me then I might have scored.’

  TJ shook his head. There was no doubt about it, Tulsi was really very fed up.

  From their kick off Hillside now mounted their first attack of the game. Deng burst forward, swerving and side-stepping his way past both Rafi and Rob. Deng was an exceptionally talented footballer and TJ and Jamie both thought he would be the first of their friends at the Player Development Centre to be offered a trial at the Wanderers Academy. And he was unselfish too. He could easily have taken a shot himself, but having taken the Parkview midfield out of the game he now laid on a perfectly weighted pass for Krissy to smash the ball at Jami
e’s goal.

  Jamie leaped and twisted in the air like a cat, and flung out an arm to punch the ball away. The punch was so strong that the ball rebounded all the way out to TJ, who had been running back to try and help out in the defence. He controlled it and played it infield to Rob, who had seen the chance of a quick counter-attack and was moving rapidly forward. TJ sprinted down the wing, and he saw to his surprise that Tulsi had made yet another run, this time back towards the centre circle and once again the defender had gone with her. Her runs were pulling the Hillside defence all over the place, creating space for her team-mates. TJ moved in from the wing, calling for the ball, and Rob responded with another beautiful pass.

  The counter-attack had happened so fast that the Hillside goalkeeper was still on the edge of his penalty area, as TJ received the ball from Rob. Tulsi had turned her defender again and was now racing towards the area herself, but the opportunity was too good to miss. TJ chipped the ball, not into Tulsi’s path, but way over her head, and over the head of the defender, and over the wildly waving outstretched arms of the back-pedalling goalkeeper.

  Goal!

  TJ had chipped the keeper and scored! It was something he’d always wanted to do, and now he’d done it. He punched the air and ran round and round in circles until Rafi grabbed him. ‘Great goal, TJ!’ laughed Rafi.

  On the touchline even Mr Wood was applauding. ‘Great running, Tulsi,’ he called. ‘Good work, everyone. Keep it up.’

  It was 2–0 to Parkview, but Tulsi wasn’t happy. ‘I would have scored that time too,’ she said to TJ. ‘You know what? If no one’s going to pass to me, then I’m not going to do all that running around. It was Mr Wood’s idea but he was wrong. It’s a waste of time.’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ said Rob. ‘It gives us more options, that’s all.’

  ‘I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,’ Tulsi said crossly. ‘I’m going back where you can always find me. Near their goal. You pass to me and I score. How about that?’