Chapter 135: Unfinished Business
Chapter 135: Unfinished Business
Saturday, September 10, 2010
Broadfield Stadium, Crawley
Matchday 6: Crawley Town vs. Plymouth Argyle
Saturday morning had a nervous energy to it. After a week of hard training, Broadfield Stadium was already alive, sunlight catching the fresh-cut grass, the smell of coffee drifting from a van near the gates, the whole place humming with quiet anticipation.
Niels stepped off the team bus, his boots crunching on the damp gravel, a tight mix of focus and nerves settling in his chest.
The 2–1 win over Swindon had bumped Crawley into mid-table with seven points, but that late goal they gave up still hung in the back of his mind.
Plymouth Argyle, quick on the break and tough at the back were the kind of test that could either prove their discipline or start to show the cracks in the grind of League One.
The media couldn’t quite make up its mind. A local paper praised Crawley’s grit but warned, "Consistency remains the question."
Online, Reddit threads buzzed with cautious optimism "Freeman’s spark, Kieron’s hunger, Max’s leadership" but there were still plenty of doubters: "Seven points from five? Lucky, not convincing."
The BBC’s "fluke" comment still rang in Niels’s ears. He could feel the fire building in the squad driven by Max’s leadership, Freeman’s precision, Thiago’s flair but turning that into something steady and lasting was the real challenge.
He held his worn clipboard tightly, its pages packed with notes on Plymouth’s deep defensive shape and their shuffled midfield. Dev was starting in place of Kieron, linking up with Pogba and Freeman, a more attacking setup but a riskier one.