Second Half
The camera panned slowly across the pitch as the players re-emerged. Jake stood just outside the tunnel, hood down, speaking to no one.
Paul (quiet):
"You think they'll still press?"
Jake:
"They have to. That's where we find the space."
Then the whistle blew again.
48' Minute –
It started with a mistake.
Bradford had earned a corner—not from dominance, but from persistence. Roney and Vélez stood over it on the right. Four red shirts in the box. Kang creeping near post. Richter loitering at the edge. It looked rehearsed.
But the execution? Loose.
Roney tapped it short to Vélez—routine. Vélez shaped to whip it, but delayed by a step. That hesitation... cost them.
Newcastle pounced.
Bruno didn't even wait for the ball to settle. He stabbed it wide to Almirón and took off sprinting without the ball.
Almirón turned and ran.
From the edge of his own third—pure acceleration. No shift of weight. Just forward.
Taylor gave chase, but the gap widened every step.
