Chapter 69: First Strides.

Bennett’s strike had jolted the stands into life.

A ripple of applause carried around the ground, brief but loud enough to cut through the winter air.

"First real test of the half for Bonham,"

the commentator noted, his tone sharper now.

"Joe Bennett reminding Stoke they can’t just stroll through this second forty-five."

Play didn’t pause.

Stoke pushed the restart quickly, shifting it across their back four.

Smallbone dropped in to link, but his touch was loose and Naylor pounced, snapping into the pass and forcing it back the other way.

Dawson’s eyes narrowed as his voice carried over the sideline hum.

"Calderón."

Leo straightened from his warm-up, boots scuffing against the turf as he jogged in.

The kitman was already ready, Number 22 bunched in his hands before tossing it across.

Leo caught it one-handed, his other hand pulling at the hem to shake it out.

"First touch forward. No safe passes. If it’s there, you take it," Dawson said, his tone even but clear enough for the nearest rows to hear.

"Run. And make them hate it."

Back on the pitch, Stoke tried to play through Brown down Wigan’s left, but Whatmough stepped in hard, turning him away and forcing the ball out to the flank.

Leo moved toward his seat on the dugout, jersey slung over his shoulder as he changed his warm-up boots for the ones Mia had doodled over.

The crowd clocked him immediately, and murmurs became shouts.

"Twenty-two!"

one voice rang out.

Another joined.

Then a few more, and suddenly a chant was growing legs in the East Stand.

The commentators had just begun leaning into the story.

"And it looks like Leo Calderón might finally be getting the call—"

But the words tangled mid-sentence.

"...wait—hold on. He’s replacing Curtis Tilt?"

A beat of silence, followed by the disbelief in the other voice.

"That... that would leave Wigan with only two recognised defenders on the pitch. And Bennett—well, he’s been playing more like a winger this afternoon. That’s—"

"That’s bold,"

the first said, though it sounded like a polite stand-in for another word entirely.

Absurd.

Crazy

All of these would have been better fitting.

Around the stadium, heads turned in small ripples.

You could feel the confusion pass through the stands like a draft.

"He’s taking off a centre-back?" someone muttered a few rows up.

"Does he know it’s still one-one?" another asked, earning a shrug from his mate.

"Dawson’s either lost it," a third voice chimed in, "or he’s seen something the rest of us haven’t."

Down on the touchline, Tilt jogged in, face flushed from his last sprint.

He slowed to a walk as he reached the sideline, unstrapping his captain’s armband and handing it to Whatmough on the pitch.

On the touchline, Leo was already waiting.

Number 22 stretched across his back now.

Tilt grinned, gave him a quick high-five, and patted his shoulder.

No words — just a nod that said,

Your turn

.

The fourth official’s board clicked off as Leo stepped over the white paint and into the DW’s grass under the stadium lights, the crowd noise wrapping around him like a current.

"Well... this is something we’ve seen at the highest level — throw an extra attacker on, sacrifice a defender, and gamble on sheer weight of numbers,"

the lead commentator said, his tone balancing intrigue with restraint.

The co-commentator wasn’t quite as diplomatic.

"Sure, you see it — in stoppage time, when you’re chasing a winner, when you’ve got nothing left to lose. But it’s one-all and there’s still about 40 minutes to go. This is... different."

"Different,"

the first repeated, drawing the word out.

"And usually — when managers make this kind of move — they’re putting the responsibility on someone seasoned. Someone who’s been in those tight spaces before knows how to handle the moment."

A short pause.

"This is Calderón’s third senior appearance,"

the co-commentator added, almost like he needed to remind himself.

"Doesn’t matter how talented he is — you’re asking a lot of a seventeen-year-old in this role."

Out on the pitch, Leo wasn’t looking at the dugout or the crowd or the scoreboard.

He was already jogging into position, scanning, counting red shirts, and finding his place in the shape that suddenly looked more like a 2-1-4-3, with Leo being the 1 in front of the 2 defenders.

It was nothing you’d call conventional.

The murmurs in the stands hadn’t stopped.

If anything, they were louder now — half excitement, half confusion, all of it riding on the number 22.

In the stands, Mia was practically bouncing in her seat, elbows jittering against her sides as her eyes darted toward the touchline.

"He’s wearing them," she blurted suddenly, her voice cutting through the general murmur around them.

Sofia blinked, halfway through taking a sip from her drink.

"Wearing what?"

"The boots," Mia said, already twisting in her seat to point toward the sideline.

"The ones I drew on. You can see it — right there. The little lightning by the heel. He promised me he’d wear it in front of the home crowd when we came to watch it, and he actually did."

Her words came tumbling out in a rush, a kind of breathless pride mixed with disbelief.

Sofia followed her finger, squinting under the stadium lights until she caught sight of Leo jogging in place.

Sure enough, the boots popped every time he shifted — flashes of white marked with uneven swirls of blue and gold.

Sofia tilted her head, smirking just enough to show she’d been won over.

"You’re ridiculous," she said, but there wasn’t any bite in it.

Mia didn’t even hear her.

She was leaning forward now, both hands gripping the edge of her seat, eyes glued to the number 22.

Next to them, Noah Sarin had been watching her.

Not the way she was smiling, not even the excitement itself — but the certainty.

Noah tore his gaze from Mia to Leo, tracking the boy who was conveying a few words to his mates.

Noah sat back properly for the first time that evening, arms folded.

He’d told himself he was here out of curiosity — maybe even a little obligation — but the truth was simpler: the match had bored him until now.

And now, finally, there was a reason to pay attention.

Down on the pitch, the ball was rolling again...

Stoke worked the ball forward with patience, shifting it from side to side, each pass pulling at Wigan’s shape like threads in a worn shirt.

They weren’t in a hurry — just waiting for the gap to show.

And when they found it, they aimed straight for what they thought was the weak link.

Smallbone spotted it first, a sharp glance followed by a curling pass that cut cleanly through midfield and arced toward the right channel.

Gayle was already there, posted up with his back to the goal — and his back to Leo Calderón.

A veteran against a seventeen-year-old, and Stoke liked those odds.

Gayle cushioned the pass, then snapped into a sudden burst of pace, spinning away from Leo with the ease of someone who had been doing it for years.

But Leo’s recovery took him straight into the path of Whatmough.

The captain’s shoulder met Gayle mid-step, stopping him dead.

One touch, one tackle, and the ball was Wigan’s again.

Whatmough didn’t linger — he popped the ball sideways into Leo’s feet.

And Leo? He didn’t dwell on it either.

No drag-backs, no hesitation.

One look up.

Then he drove his right foot through it, sending a flat, rifled pass screaming across the pitch toward the opposite flank.

Chris Sze took it in stride, the ball dropping onto his chest like it belonged there.

"

...oh, that’s a gorgeous switch from Calderón!"

the lead commentator said, his voice kicking up.

"Right across the pitch, straight into Chris Sze’s stride."

Sze cushioned it on his chest, let it drop, and immediately drove up the left.

His boots ate the turf in quick bursts, the crowd lifting with every stride.

A red shirt stepped in to meet him as Sze glanced inside, and already in the middle was Calderón, who had sprinted up from deep, already offering the angle.

The pass came sharp as Leo took it in one touch.

And then, without breaking his run, lifted it back over the defender’s foot into Sze’s path.

Gasps from the home end for the inventiveness.

Sze barely slowed, but instead of pushing on himself, he rolled it into Joe Bennett, who’d crept up from the wing.

"Lovely football by Wigan,"

the co-commentator said.

"Sharp, fast, one-touch — they’re slicing Stoke open here."

Bennett paused, shaping for a shot.

The Stoke backline surged toward him, ready to block.

But Bennett didn’t pull the trigger.

He dipped inside, faked, then spun back out to his left — and with one slip of the boot, threaded a pass behind the charging defenders, toward the edge of the box.

And there was Calderón again.

The ball rolled perfectly into his stride, but a Stoke marker was glued to his shoulder, bracing for a shot, but the ball didn’t leave Leo’s foot.

Instead, with the deftest flick of his boot, he pushed it backwards — straight to Broadhead, who’d hung outside the box, untouched.

"

BROADHEAD!

" the commentator called, voice jumping.

Broadhead stepped in, rifling a vicious drive that smacked against the post after clipping a defender’s shin.

"Oh, it could have been 2. Brilliant football!"

the lead commentator shouted over the noise.

"Absolutely brilliant from Wigan — and how on earth has Calderón gone from the backline, to linking the midfield, to almost setting up their second? He’s everywhere."

The DW rose to its feet in scattered applause, the sound growing as Cousins jogged over to the corner flag, ball in hand.

A/N: Very sorry my neglected fans. Have this to cool your heart and I will see you during the day if I can and for once, I think I actually can and have just a Chapter to release today so see you in a few hours.