Chapter 24: Perfect Time

That was the second time Manchester City were taking an early lead in a match this season and Axel was the one at the end of it this time.

Everton didn't know what hit them but they had been trying everything they could to recover to no avail.

They set up their midfield well to tie City's midfield down their four-man midfield was made up of an attacking midfielder, a defensive midfielder, and two central midfielders.

That was their perfect midfield setup to cage them or at least overpower them but City's midfield were still running the show.

The match had just entered the twentieth minute now when Codex sent the ball rolling straight to Axel from near the edge of the box.

"Codex to Axel, their dispelling the danger."

Axel was standing near the kick-off spot when the ball got to him and he had Gomes right behind him with another player closing in on him from his right.

But just before any of those players could get close enough to him, he flicked the ball to Andrea before quickly moving past Gomes to receive the ball back from his teammate.

Gomes got desperate at that moment and tried to knock the ball off his feet but the youngster quickly moved further up with the ball to avoid both of his feet.

"I'm not letting myself get injured again." He muttered before kicking the ball toward Novich who was just beside him a little to the left.

"I'm really loving the link up in City's midfield, they know Axel's always going to be the one making the run-up front so there's always someone to support him up front with the other person staying behind to cover the space they leave in case the ball gets dropped back." Tony articulated. "And Axel sure is playing like a completely different player after missing the game against Brentford."

"Well, he was injured so he was bound to miss it, it's a good thing his injury wasn't serious enough to make him miss more than one match."

The clock was showing twenty-two minutes now and Manchester City were still lurking around Everton's box.

Merino received the ball from Axel down the wing and tried to cut past the full-back but he almost lost the ball in the process and ended up pushing the ball back to Andrea with a backheel pass.

"He sends it back to Andrea, Andrea with a through pass."

The midfielder immediately tried to set up Tacky with a through pass as soon as he got his foot on the ball. However, the defenders were alert and one of them ended up cutting it off before the striker could get his foot on it.

The defender moved to the edge of the box with the ball and was about to send it out when it was quickly taken off his foot by none other than Axel.

"Taking too much time to send the ball out was a mistake, Axel's with it now and he has a chance to shoot!"

The midfielder moved a little to the right with the ball and feigned shooting it before he lobbed it over to Merino who had enough shooting space inside the box.

"Oh, he's decided to leave the shooting up to Merino, there's no way he can miss from there."

'Yes, this is the moment, there's no way he can miss from there.'

Merino gave the ball a little push forward as the goalkeeper quickly closed up on the right side but just before he could do anything else, the winger struck the ball with his right foot.

"Merino!"

That was a very good chance for the winger, it was the perfect time for Axel to register the first assist in his career and the team but alas, it wasn't meant to be as the winger's effort ended up hitting the post before bouncing out for a goal kick.

"Oh, and it's the woodwork coming in clutch for Everton."

A huge sigh of disappointment swept through the stadium as Merino crashed down on the floor and flipped over before quickly getting up on his feet.

"Oh, come on!" Axel blurted before kicking the floor.

This time there was no hiding it, he was frustrated.

'Just how many tries is it going to take to finally get an assist? How many times are they going to mess it up? I didn't mess up Andrea's pass and that counts as his assist now.'

He was about to say something else as the ball was sent out toward their side of the pitch when he felt a pat on his back.

"Bring it over to my side next time," Peterson said before quickly running past him.

He didn't say anything to that and just kept moving forward to join the play like the rest of his teammates.

Failing to pull off that assist really disoriented his mind to the extent that he didn't realize that he was walking while the rest of his teammates were quickly running back, even Tacky ahead of him on their side of the pitch.

The time being displayed on the clock now was twenty-seven minutes as Everton moved the ball around on City's side of the pitch.

They were trying to find a way through but so far all their routes seemed to be closed or it looked that way at least.

Leo received the ball from Gomes a little down the left and Rafael quickly rushed him at that moment but just before the right back could get to him, he sent the ball rolling to Ezra who quickly flicked it to a player on the right.

A midfielder with the name Aleksy written above the number six on the back of his shirt.

"Aleksy."

He quickly moved toward Norman with the ball but when the left back tried to take the ball off his feet he quickly moved down the sidelines with the ball with it.

Norman's plan at that moment was to push the ball out for a throw-in, and just as he stretched his right leg to do that, Aleksy got the ball past him with a nutmeg.

"Uh oh."

Novich quickly closed up to help at that moment but it was too late as the midfielder had already gotten into a good enough position to send the ball in.

"Danger lurking around City's box, this could be Everton's chance to even things out."

The center backs quickly covered up near the edge of the box to stop him from getting too far in but that was exactly what he wanted.

He moved a little further up with the ball before he sent it rolling in toward Ezra and Leo who were already in the box.

"Sends it in low!"

Pierre quickly rushed back to obstruct the chance with Rafael quickly coming in from his position and then there were Novich and Andrea coming in from behind.

However, they were all too late as Ezra had already gotten his foot on the ball, and with that first touch, he aimed for the bottom left corner.

"Ezra!"

That was the perfect strike, but just before it could get to its target, Moreno quickly dived toward it and gave it a little push with the tip of his glove to send it out for a corner kick.

"Oh, what a save from Moreno! I was almost certain that they had gone in." Tony commented.

"To be honest nobody would have blamed him if that had gone in, their defense got a bit disoriented there but I guess it's moments like this where they show us what they can do, look at his teammates hugging and shaking him for pulling that off." Mike articulated. "But that said, they have a corner kick to deal with now."

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