Hot-Shot Harry

by Rob Childs

  “Take a break now,” Mrs Phillips told the players. “There’s a short interval before the semi-finals.”

  “Who are we playing?” asked Oliver.

  “A school from the city,” said the teacher. “York Juniors. They won Group B.”

  Mrs Phillips took Charlotte to one side to check how she was.

  “I’ll be all right, Miss,” Charlotte insisted. “I feel fine.”

  Leela guessed that her friend was not telling the truth.

  “Keep it up, Charlie,” she said when the teacher had moved away. “Do you want some ice?”

  “An ice cream?” asked Charlotte hopefully.

  “No, some ice to put on that ankle!” said Leela.

  Chapter Five

  Semi-Final

  Harry gathered the Gateway squad together. He wanted to have his own team talk before Mrs Phillips came to take over.

  “Right, guys, let’s get ready,” he said. “Dad saw this York lot win one of their games, and he says they play hard. Don’t try anything fancy, Leela, or they will be after you.”

  “Then we’ll get a few free kicks, won’t we?” she replied.

  “Depends on the ref,” Harry said. “Anyway, we don’t want these guys thinking they can walk all over us. We give as good as we get – OK?”

  “OK!” echoed the other players as Mrs Phillips came over.

  “Good luck, everyone,” she said. “As long as you do your best, it doesn’t matter about the result.”

  “Huh!” grunted Harry under his breath. “A win is the only result we want.”

  Harry’s dad was right about York School. The very first time that Harry got the ball, a defender clattered into him from behind and left him lying on the floor.

  Peeep!

  Harry jumped to his feet when the whistle went, keen to take the free kick himself.

  He kicked the ball low and hard, but the keeper threw himself to his right and turned the ball away to safety.

  As Harry had warned, Leela came in for some rough treatment when she tried to run with the ball.

  She was knocked down twice. The second time, the referee awarded another free kick.

  York expected Harry to go for a goal, but he tricked them by slipping the ball into space on his right instead. Oliver was ready for it, and he steered the ball into the corner of the net with the side of his foot.

  “Wicked, Ollie!” cried Harry, jumping onto his back.

  But that was their only success of the first half. By half time, Gateway found themselves 2–1 down. York had scored twice in a minute and Brad was to blame for both goals.

  “You dummy!” snapped Harry.

  “Never mind, Bradley, these things happen,” Mrs Phillips told him, but she replaced Brad with Ravi for the second half.

  Ravi was on top form. Thanks to his defending, Charlotte only had to make a couple of saves, although one of them was brilliant. She dived low to her left to grab the ball, snuggling it to her chest so that it could not escape.

  “Top stop, Charlie!” Harry shouted.

  “To me, Charlie!” cried Leela as the goalie got back to her feet.

  Charlie rolled the ball into Leela’s path. Two York players tried to trip Leela as she sprinted forward, but her speed and balance fooled them. Glancing up, she saw that Harry had found space to her left.

  Her pass was perfect. Harry did not even have to control the ball and he hit it firmly, past the York keeper.

  “Hot-shot!” he bellowed at the top of his voice.

  At full-time, the teams were still locked at 2–2.

  “There will now be a shoot-out to decide which school goes through to the Final,” called the referee. “Choose three players to take the penalties.”

  Mrs Phillips had already made her choice, Gateway’s main scorers – Oliver, Leela and Harry.

  “Do these goals count for the sponsor money?” asked Oliver.

  “Course they do,” Harry said firmly. “Goals are goals!”

  Oliver took the first spot-kick, but he sent the ball high over the crossbar.

  Harry glared at him. “Great!” he said nastily. “Thanks a bunch.”

  The first York kicker also missed with a wild shot, and then it was Leela’s turn.

  “Keep it low,” hissed Harry as Leela walked by him, trying not to show how nervous she felt.

  Her hands were shaking as she settled the ball on the penalty spot.

  She met the keeper’s eye on purpose, and flicked a glance towards the bottom corner of the goal, to his right.

  The boy thought it was a trick and dived to his left, but it was a double bluff. The ball zipped into the other corner. Leela threw her arms up into the air in relief.

  “One-nil to Gateway,” called the referee.

  Thirty seconds later it was one goal each. Charlotte had dived the wrong way too.

  Harry showed no sign of nerves. He didn’t have special tricks for penalties, like Leela’s mind-games. He simply pretended that the goalie was not there. He always practised penalties without one and now he kicked the ball as hard as he could. The keeper jumped out of the way!

  “Two–one to Gateway.”

  York took their last shot. It was a hard ball too, and Charlotte was not as sensible as the York keeper. She blocked the fierce shot with her right hand.

  Gateway had won the semi-final!

  Charlotte’s cry of pain was lost in the crowd’s cheers. Her team-mates all jumped on top of her.

  It was only when she didn’t get up that they realised she had been hurt. It wasn’t her ankle this time, but her hand.

  “I’ve bust my little finger,” she wailed.

  It was dislocated. A first-aid attendant put the finger back into position, but it was still very sore.

  “No Final for you, I’m afraid,” Mrs Phillips told her. “Somebody else will have to go in goal.”

  “Don’t look at me,” said Ravi.

  “I’ll do it,” Harry said, to everyone’s surprise. “Captain’s duty.”

  Chapter Six

  The Final

  “They say all goalies are crazy,” Leela told Charlotte. “And Harry sure is crazy!”

  Charlotte gave a weak smile. “Well, that’s a good start, then.”

  “We’re going to miss you in the Final,” Leela said.

  “Just make sure you win,” Charlotte said. “I don’t want to go home with a losers’ medal.”

  Leela nodded. “But Ashfield beat us 2–0 in the last round, and they won their semi-final pretty easy, too.”

  Leela was right. The all-boys’ squad of Ashfield School was full of confidence.

  They even ran onto the pitch in an arrow-shaped formation. Then they did some warm-up exercises.

  “Huh! Just look at that load of dummies!” scoffed Harry. “Who do they think they’re going to impress?”

  “Us, probably,” said Oliver, who was going to play up front. “Are you OK in that sweat shirt?”

  Harry had borrowed Oliver’s green sweatshirt. It was a bit small for him, but it was that or Charlotte’s yellow jersey.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he lied. He didn’t feel at all OK about playing in goal. “Just make sure you score more goals than I let in!”

  They grinned at each other.

  “Come on, get in goal and I’ll take a few shots at you,” Oliver told him.

  They did not have long. Harry was soon called by the referee to toss up with the Ashfield captain.

  “Heads!” called Harry as the coin spun into the air.

  “Tails,” said the referee.

  That wasn’t the only thing that Harry got wrong.

  Ashfield swept into the attack straight from the kick-off. It took a well-timed tackle by Ravi, to prevent an early shot at goal.

  Harry’s first task as goalie was to block a low shot with his legs instead of his hands. He used his hands for his second task – picking the ball out of the net after the rebound had been smashed back past him.

  “Unlucky, ski
pper,” said Brad.

  Harry booted the ball away in a temper.

  “Huh! Any chance of you trying to stop them shooting?”

  Brad and Ravi kept Ashfield at bay for the rest of the first period. Most of Ashfield’s shots were long-distance efforts which caused Harry few problems, but their own keeper had nothing to do.

  Then Gateway won a free kick for a foul on Leela. Oliver took it. The ball swerved and dipped as it flew, but the keeper got it away to one side.

  Just before the interval, there was a goal that nobody expected.

  Leela was boxed in against the side wall of the pitch. She kicked the ball back to Brad who had moved up in support of the attack, crossing the halfway line for the first time in the game.

  Brad pushed the ball in front of him, looking for a Gateway player to pass to, but everyone was well marked.

  So Brad went even further forward and ran out of options. The only thing he could do was shoot.

  Ashfield realised the danger too late. Before anyone could try to block the shot, the ball was bouncing back out of the net.

  “I’ve scored!” Brad screamed in disbelief. “Incredible!”

  Chapter Seven

  Golden Goals

  “Take over from me,” Harry told Ravi at half-time. “I want to get back out onto the pitch.”

  Ravi was about to argue when Mrs Phillips saw Harry taking off the green top.

  “Just a minute, Harry,” she said. “What are you doing?”

  “Er … letting Ravi go in goal.”

  “Did I say anything about that?” she asked.

  “Well, no, but …”

  “So put it back on, please, Harry,” she told him. “I don’t want to make any changes yet. We’ve just drawn level and you’re doing fine in goal.”

  “But …” Harry began.

  “No buts, Harry, please. Just do as I say.”

  Harry was cross but he didn’t argue. He had a sulky look as he tugged the sweatshirt back on.

  “Well done, everyone,” said Mrs Phillips, ignoring the captain’s sighs. “We’re back in this game now!”

  Gateway started the second half with a goal.

  Leela struck the ball perfectly with her left foot, curling it into the top corner to give Gateway a 2–1 lead.

  “Magic!” cried Charlotte from the side.

  Ashfield went on the attack, but good defending by Brad and Ravi, plus two more saves from Harry, stopped them from scoring.

  It looked like Gateway were winning – until they gave away the lead. Every single Gateway player was at fault, ending up with a howler by Harry.

  Oliver gave the ball away too easily. Leela’s tackle was weak, Ravi fell over, and the ball rolled through Brad’s legs into the path of Ashfield’s top scorer.

  The striker’s shot was tame and Harry did not bother to save it with his hands. He used his feet, planning to kick the ball up to Oliver.

  So when the ball bobbled over his foot, Harry had no chance. He swiped at thin air and the ball rolled slowly into the net behind him.

  The laughter around the arena did not make Harry feel any better. He crouched down, head in hands, unable to look anybody in the eye.

  Mrs Phillips took pity on the captain and decided to give him a chance to make up for his mistake.

  “Go in goal now, Ravi,” she called out. “Let Harry play up front for the last few minutes.”

  Harry ripped off the green top and ran across to the team base for his red shirt. Charlotte tossed it to him, making no comment about the mistake. She knew exactly how it felt to let in a soft goal.

  “Go and grab the winner,” she said.

  Harry very nearly did so. In Gateway’s next attack, the ball dropped at his feet, but he scooped his hurried shot over the low crossbar.

  There was still enough time for either school to snatch a victory with a late goal, and Ashfield nearly did. Their striker had a good chance to pass the ball to a team-mate, but he wanted a hat-trick, so he tried to score instead.

  Ravi managed to get both hands to the ball and cling on to it.

  “Rave-save!” Harry cried. “Better than I could have done.”

  When the referee blew for full-time, with the scores tied at 2–2, the Gateway players braced themselves for penalties again. But instead the referee said they would go into extra time.

  “Two minutes each way,” the referee called, “but if one team scores, that’s the end of the game. It’s the Golden Goal rule.”

  Harry liked the sound of that. “Golden Goal!” he cried. “That’s what it’s all about today. Every goal has been worth its weight in gold!”

  Midway through the first period, Leela passed to Harry. He saw a chance to score.

  He would be the hero if he got the winning goal! Harry drew his right foot back to shoot – but it was a tricky angle. He thought of the Ashfield striker’s greedy miss.

  So, Harry didn’t try to score himself. Instead, he passed the ball to Oliver, who was in a better position.

  Oliver hit the ball low and hard, and it skimmed into the back of the net.

  “Hot-shot!” screamed Harry. “We’ve won!”

  Oliver and Brad grabbed one of Harry’s legs each, and he was given a bumpy ride around the pitch on Ravi’s shoulders. Leela and Charlotte leapt around them like playful puppies.

  “We got thirteen goals!” cried Leela.

  “Lucky thirteen!” laughed Charlotte.

  After Harry had lifted the County Cup to cheers, clapping and cameras, Mrs Phillips had some good news.

  “The school will double the sponsor money,” she told them, “so Saint Francis will receive over a thousand pounds. That will buy them a lot of footballs!”

  The youngsters whooped their delight and then ran off with the trophy and their medals to do another lap of honour.

  “Talk about Golden Goals!” laughed Harry.

  First published 2012 by A & C Black

  This electronic edition published September 2012

  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  50 Bedford Square

  London WC1B 3DP

  Copyright © 2012 A & C Black

  Text copyright © 2012 Rob Childs

  Illustrations copyright © 2012 Bob Moulder

  The rights of Rob Childs and Bob Moulder to be identified

  as the author and illustrator of this work have been asserted by them

  in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  eISBN 978-1-4081-8050-1 (e-book)

  A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

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