'… and it's another save by goalkeeper Allan Meares for Manchester. This time it's Paymuck that doesn't score… Meares kicks out to center; it's Matt Crawley who's going to get it into play, and not Gillingham. Crawley to Mason, and it's a chain reaction, back and forth from left wing. Billy Mason's been like lightning; never twice in the same place. To Eccles… Eccles to Blythe… But Barrow's got it, working his way back… thinks he can get it past Mr. Crawley…. but Crawley takes control back, out of Gillingham's reach… Crawley kicks the ball up above Newcastle centre-midfield! Good strategy, powerful move, but who'll get it?'

Robert Grant began to fidget in place on the sideline. His assistant, Murray, looked at his watch momentarily. With 23 minutes and 4 seconds to go until the end of the game, the score was Manchester 2, Newcastle 1….

'And Crawley's put a spin on that ball; it goes to left… Blake and Napier are both running for it. and it looks like Mason might be there, too… Blake makes contact… to Napier… back to Blake…. meanwhile here comes Eccles….'

Mary, Anna and Daisy sipped some lemon squash while watching the game. The decidedly cute Billy Mason had given Daisy a smile within the past hour; Daisy glowed. Mary sometimes caught herself smiling at Matthew whenever he prevailed, but tried to hide that she was actually rooting for someone that didn't play on her father's team.

'Gillingham's trying to block Crawley ahead of time… will that strategy work? Crawley's Manchester's tactician, but Gillingham usually makes up his mind and pushes on… Eccles gets the ball from Charles Blake, and gets away quickly… heading for goal. Can Newcastle defend this time? Here comes Napier after Eccles, and now Blythe decides to close in. Gillingham pulls away from centre midfield…. wait a minute - Barrow's shoving Blythe out of the way, Blythe's on the ground. It's a red card for Thomas Barrow. Looks like Harry Blythe might be injured. Matt Crawley is rushing to his teammate, and asking someone to come in from the sideline… Ball is out of play.'

As the disgruntled Barrow went with a referee off of the pitch, a team medic ran out to Newcastle's territory in order to join Matthew, who had begun to examine Harry's ankle.

'Harry, does it feel like you've twisted your ankle?' Matthew asked in a calm voice as he knelt beside the poor centre-forward.

'Let's hope it's more like I sprained it, Matt. It hurts like h—l!'

Meanwhile Robert Grant met Barrow with a scowl, raising his voice.

'Whatever possessed you to act like such a barbarian? I've half a mind to have you sit out the next three games!'

And all the yelling Mr. Grant could possibly do could only put the fear of God in Thomas momentarily; they both knew it. But he didn't usually get a red card for his antics on the pitch.

Once Matthew and the medic had put Harry Eccles' ankle into a splint and seen him carried off the pitch, play resumed - though not before a round of applause was given to Harry, who had scored the first point for Manchester. Matt hurried back onto the field, to face a surly Gillingham who wanted nothing more than to even the score within the next fifteen minutes. Nothing, of course, against Matthew….

'Let's see how the rest of the game goes, Boy Scout…' Gillingham muttered under his breath at the fair-haired, blue-eyed good neighbour, while the ball was put back into play at the left sideline. Meanwhile Nate Preston had replaced Harry Eccles, and came to the task all fresh and eager. Young Nate soon made contact with the ball, and aimed for Newcastle's goal. The ball sailed past Blake, only to be caught by one Gerry Winston, who kept the goal. Newcastle supporters breathed a sigh of relief, then kept their fingers crossed as Winston kicked the ball out into the field, with far less of a spin than Matty had given it earlier. Tony Gillingham smiled. He could just taste taking control of the ball, manoevering right past Matty, and scoring easily. But he did not take Bob Raybourne into account. The ball came to Bob instead, and he happily sent it to the right wing, Jim Hopkins. This made Matty very happy that everyone's teamwork factored into the day's play.

'Good on you, gents!' Matthew rose his voice joyfully.

'Thanks, Matt!' they yelled back, sending the ball back and forth past Kemal Pamuk with ease.

After one more failed attempt to score made by Pamuk, only twenty seconds remained of the game, and it was decided to let the clock tick those out. The score remained Manchester 2, Newcastle 1.