Chapter 14: Fractures
Chapter 14: Fractures
The rain had stopped, but its echo remained—soaked into the pitch, the boots, the bones of the training ground.
Morning broke grey and flat. The kind of morning where even the sun seemed hesitant, peeking through clouds but never fully committing. The sky looked undecided, the way Niels sometimes felt when standing too long over a formation sheet. He sipped his coffee at the edge of the pitch, clipboard tucked under one arm, watching as the squad filed out one by one.
There was a slight buzz in the air. Not nervous, not exactly—more like anticipation layered with expectation. A tension that had grown quieter with every result. They were winning. And that came with pressure. Not the kind you shouted about—but the kind you wore, day after day, like a damp jacket that never quite dried.
Saturday was coming. A home league fixture against Woking. Mid-table. Physical. Fast on the break. The sort of team that played ugly and made you look worse. Punish a stray touch, crowd the midfield, hit you before you could blink. And Crawley, for all their momentum, had begun to show signs of strain under the spotlight. Not in results—yet—but in the edges. In body language. In the way players looked at each other a second longer than before.
"Stay focused," Niels said as the players gathered into groups. "They'll hit us hard in the first twenty minutes. Stay alert, win your battles early—don't chase flashy plays, just do the basics right."
He caught Luka smirking just behind the forwards' line. Hands on hips, chin tilted slightly up. Confident. Maybe too confident. A month ago, the kid had been all questions and raw energy. Now he walked like someone who expected the game to bend to him. Niels didn't call it out. Not yet.
Inside, the press were back. Not as many cameras this time, but the questions were longer, and the smiles more rehearsed. A reporter from the Sussex Herald asked about squad rotation. Another leaned in with a microphone and wanted to know how Niels was handling "the media circus" ahead of the FA Cup draw.
"I don't think it's a circus," Niels said, eyes steady. "But I do think the main act should still be the football."