Debut (5)

'And here come the Teesside players coming out for what we hope would be an eventful second half. Forty five minutes of football played and four goals to the good'

'Well it seems that after scoring four goals, Teesside would want to pull the brakes on the scoring spree. They've had three substitutions, and all the new players making their way to the pitch are debutants'

'We really can't judge them based on the fact that they're youth players. Omari Hutchingson's performance in the first half should've told us that. A youngster, just sixteen years old and he already plays as well as he does, really rare'

'Teesside do seem to have struck gold with his talent. Once in a generation from what we've seen isn't he'

'Sure is. I can't wait to see what else he has under his sleeve in the second half''

'Same here'

Coming out of the tunnel for the second half, the Oxford City players looked a lot more confident than they looked in the first half. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Teesside had just removed three of their most experienced players in the starting lineup and replaced them with youngsters that were yet to play professional football but they seemed a lot more sure of themselves.

The referee walked to the middle of the pitch. He fiddled with his watch for a bit before taking one final look at it and blowing his whistle to indicate the beginning of the second half.

Oxford City started the second half the same way they looked while stepping into the pitch, confident. They were a lot better compared to how they played in the first half. They put together meaningful string of passes, they were a lot more on the offensive and forced several attacking players, Omari inclusive, to drop back into defense. It was a dream start for them.

Some of the Teesside players were not happy about what was happening, Oxford City were currently one man down. As such, they had the advantage even though they already had the advantage. They were supposed to be pressing Oxford City, it wasn't supposed to happen the other way around.

Now that Oxford City were actually playing so well, there was only one problem… scoring a goal.

While Michael had removed some of his experienced players, he replaced them with youngsters making their debuts, energetic youngsters that had enough fuel in the tank to chase the ball for as long as it required.

He didn't feel like he needed to tell them the significance of the match they were playing before he guaranteed himself that they were going to give him their best performance. They were youngsters that were making their first senior appearance, they would definitely want to create a good first impression on how skilled they were so he was confident.

The Oxford City players however, didn't think of the situation like that. They thought that they could exploit the fact most defensive players were inexperienced youth players and pull back a goal or two, but when they saw their plans crashing before their eyes, they became as they were in the first half.

After that brief spell of possession, the next ten minutes would be like hell for the Oxford City players. Teesside dominated possession and were pretty much always on the attack.

Fortunately for the Oxford City players, they had managed to get the act of defending with a compact shape so they managed to keep out Teesside for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, there was only so much they could do under the persistent and merciless barrage from Teesside. Eventually, they opened up.

55'

Once again, Omari was involved. His team's left back sent a long cross to the left. He and the opposition's right back raced towards the ball but Omari ultimately got there first.

Stepover.

Omari's legs flashed on top the ball before he dribbled past the right back, meeting an abundance of space like what happened earlier, only this time there wasn't enough space for him to take his time like he did earlier.

There might've been a lot of space outside the box but the box was filled up, there wasn't space for him to pick out someone and if he sent a careless cross into the box then I could the spark they needed to start a counterattack.

Whilst he was weighing his options, he heard the right back that he moved past earlier running towards him. He moved to his right suddenly, causing the right back who rushed towards him to run into nothing, making him lose his balance and ultimately fall on the floor.

Immediately after that, Omari passed the ball to Jack who had been waiting at the edge of the box. Even though Michael played him as a right winger, he sometimes strayed to the middle of the pitch as he was used to playing as a central player.

Without thinking, Jack played the shot one time. Although it was supposed to go to the post, his shot was blocked by Omari who was making a run into the box. Luckily, Jack reacted faster than any of the other players and hit the ball that bounced beautifully towards him to the goalpost.

There was no way that the goalkeeper could've kept that shot out of the goalpost. Jack shot it with every ounce of strength in his leg. It was a miracle that the shot was even on target in the first place. The shot hit the roof of the net.

'Gooooaaaaalll! And Teesside get one more. Fantastic work on the left from Omari but that box is absolutely crowded so Omari has to pass it back. Jack kind of strayed from the left a little bit but when you look at it, it all worked in his favor. He was at the right place at the right time to hit the shot and he was also at the right place at the right time to get the rebound. Teesside put five past Oxford City and there's still plenty more action to come'

'I think it's a lucky goal. It was more of finding yourself in the right place at the right time than positioning or finishing or anything like that. Jack Ryans was extremely lucky to have met the ball after his first shot was blocked, but I'm not taking anything away from the goal'

'You know, he's been fantastic for a seventeen year old playing out of position and I just think that he deserved that goal very much. Did well in the first half, has played very well in the second half and he has a goal to show for it'

'What a day it has been for the debut boys. Omari Hutchingson scoring his first career goal earlier today and now it's Jack Ryans that has his debut moment. Teesside's academy are really bringing in loads of talent'

'We look at some of the other academy players making their debuts tonight, Ekon Richards, David Arkenberg and the rest, they've all put in quite the shift tonight. They might've played against Non League opponents but they've all out in quite the effort tonight'

The rest of the match passed quite peacefully. There were a few attempts here and there from the two sides playing the match but none of them went in. At the end it finished a five nil thrashing by Teesside.

From the looks of the faces of the management and the coaching staff of Oxford City, it was quite obvious that the Oxford City players were in a lot of trouble. Either the manager or the players were going to get in trouble, maybe even both!

"Sucks to be them" Omari muttered to Jack after the match. He was holding the match ball as he had been voted man of the match.

"Imagine if they have a psycho like Jurg as their coach" Jack smiled as he replied.

"I'll be sure to tell Jurg what the two of you think of him" Michael said, scaring the two boys.

They were more afraid about the fact that he was going to tell Jurg that they called him a psycho than the fact that he popped up behind them unexpected. Jurg was that much of a… a psycho.

"Just kidding" Michael smiled at the two players.

The Teesside team stayed late to celebrate before one by one everyone started going back home. At last, Omari decided to walk back home. It felt a bit strange to be walking back home without being accompanied by Ayanfe or Amber, but he knew that it wasn't something that he was going to get used to.

While he thought of his loneliness, his expression suddenly changed. Amber… she had a match today, and he didn't come to see her.

He closed his eyes and used his hands to rake through his hair. There was only one thought in his head at the moment…

Shit!

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