Harbinger Of Glory

The away end erupted at the lead, but they knew it was still too early to say anything.

Sheffield United tried to respond, but Wigan simply kept coming.

Their structure allowed them to maintain pressure without throwing everyone forward at once, and Sheffield United were struggling to find a way out.

Then came a corner, which Ezra delivered towards the near side, and Max Power, returning to the starting 11, attacked the ball.

The Sheffield players tried to dispute the effort in the air, but Max Power’s header flew beyond the goalkeeper.

”Two to the good. And they have breathing space!”

Wigan had doubled their lead, and Sheffield United looked rattled.

They couldn’t keep possession for long enough to relieve the pressure, and Wigan continued finding pockets around the penalty area.

Then, in the 39th minute, Carlo received the ball in space and instead of passing, took it forward and finished the move himself, executing one of his dribbling runs and turning it into end product.

3–0.

The away supporters were now in full voice while the home side looked beaten as the referee eventually brought the first half to an end.

Three goals down, heading into the half, but sixteen minutes later, it felt as though the second half belonged to an entirely different match.

Sheffield United came out immediately, making a few changes, and within seconds of the restart, they were attacking the Wigan penalty area.

And when the ball was worked into position, they finished it, cutting the lead by one.

”GOAL! Sheffield United have one back! It might not be over yet!”

The Wigan away end fell quiet for a moment as a few supporters exchanged uneasy looks, but it didn’t stay for long.

It was only one goal, and Wigan still had the advantage.

The away side, which had made Bramall Lane look like their home field, continued attacking.

Chance after chance came, but it was either dragged wide, saved or just broke down.

Wigan should have been out of sight; instead, Sheffield United stayed alive.

And as the clock approached seventy minutes, the warning became real.

Another Sheffield United attack ended with the ball in the Wigan net, leaving the score at 3–2 and the home crowd joyous.

The players celebrated by grabbing the ball towards the centre spot while Wigan were left staring at the scoreboard and then the possibility of drawing a game they should be winning by a mile.

The control started to slip afterwards, and Wigan subconsciously began to retreat with it.

The deeper Sheffield United pushed, the more Wigan’s players began protecting the lead rather than looking for the next goal.

Leo, seeing it all unfold, knew it couldn’t continue.

There was still too much time left to park the bus, and he’d seen enough tapes of these situations to know that it wasn’t the right option to do in instances like this.

So he started taking the game into his own hands.

Whenever the ball came to him, he held it and waited for pressure instead of releasing it immediately.

He drew challenges, protected the ball and won fouls whenever Sheffield United got too close.

A minute here and another thirty seconds there.

He kept the Sheffield players away from the ball for as long as he could, killing their momentum and destabilising their attacking edge.

And the Sheffield United players were slowly becoming irritated without quite realising why.

The challenges became a bit more frequent afterwards as Leo began spending more time in the grass than on his feet.

But just as it seemed it might all unfold again when two players closed him down near the touchline, Leo somehow squeezed between them, keeping the ball at his feet before emerging on the other side.

The away crowd groaned, but Leo knew he’d done enough.

Taking advantage of the Sheffield setup that had tilted towards him, Leo slipped the ball right past them and into Reyes, who received it on the turn, immediately shifting his body between the ball and the defender.

As one Sheffield United player stepped in, Reyes pushed the ball through his legs.

The away supporters roared in approval as the portuguese kept going.

Then he played it into the path of Callum Lang and with just a single touch, Lang placed it past Sheffield’s keeper.

”LANNNNNNGGGGGGG!”

Suddenly, Wigan had their two-goal advantage back.

Leo turned away with a small breath of relief, knowing it was enough.

Well......

It wasn’t.

Sheffield United refused to disappear.

They pushed forward again, throwing players into the final third as the clock ran down while Wigan defended desperately.

Then a free kick was put on the spot for the home side.

The delivery came into the area, met a header of equal quality, and suddenly, they were back within one again.

The home supporters found their voices again while Wigan looked towards the referee, wishing he would just end the game.

And lucky for them, the whistle finally came after they held onto the ball for two more minutes.

When it did, Leo bent forward with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

”It’s over!”

The commentator’s voice rose above the noise.

”Wigan Athletic finally have their first three points in four Premier League matches, but they have had to work incredibly hard for it!”

Leo remained bent over for another few seconds before slowly straightening, while up in the gantry, the co-commentator laughed softly.

”What a game that was. Four-three.”

”Four-three, and Sheffield United will probably be wondering how they weren’t taking something from this. .

Wigan were outstanding in that first half. They were three goals up and looked completely in control.”

”But Sheffield were a different team after the break.”

”Completely different. They deserve a lot of credit for that second half. If they’d been that switched on from the beginning, this could have been a very different result.”

The Wigan players began making their way towards the away supporters after catching their breath and shaking hands with the home side’s players.

They applauded the travelling fans, some players raising their hands while others stopped to acknowledge individual sections of the stand.

It had not been pretty, and it had not been comfortable.

But Wigan had finally won again.

After a few more moments, the players turned towards the tunnel and disappeared inside, with the evening still young.