The second-half brave attempt came as a surprise to almost everyone on the pitch, and there was one thing that that attempt indicated, Ronino FC came prepared in the second half and things were about to get aggressive.
Unique FC were still with the ball after it was sent in by Dave, they were going to try and approach play slowly just like they had been doing because losing the ball was something they didn't want to happen.
Mateo received the ball from Ferran and made an attempt to dribble past the player right in front of him before pushing the ball back to Roland who had gotten close to him now.
"He sends it back to Roland."
Roland moved the ball a little to the middle before he suddenly paused as he was looking for someone to send the ball over to.
As soon as he stopped moving, Zen quickly increased his pace as he wanted to get to him quickly and take the ball from him, but just before the midfielder could get close enough, Roland suddenly dashed past him with the ball and now he was loose on one of his runs.
"Roland is racing down the middle with the ball, we will be able to see something here?" Jim commented as the left back raced down toward the eighteen-yard box.
Just as he got close enough to the eighteen-yard box, he pushed the ball to Minino who immediately sent it rolling to Merino.
"Merino."
Merino raced down the wing and just before reaching the line, he sent the ball into the box with a low cross.
The ball was sent rolling toward Mateo who was being tightly marked.
The winger knew he wouldn't be able to do much even if he got the ball in that situation but he had a great idea.
He quickly closed up on the ball as the player marking him quickly followed him, and just as he got close to the moving ball, he moved past it, dragging the defender marking him along with him and allowing the ball to continue moving forward toward Ferran who he had anticipated was going to get into that position right on time.
"He completely left it for Ferran."
Ferran knew what he had to do as he quickly pulled his leg back and sent the ball rolling toward the left side of the goalpost.
"Ferran!"
The goalkeeper was glued to a spot, but there was no need to be worried as the ball ended up hitting the post before rolling out for a goal kick.
"Oh, it hit the woodwork."
The midfielder couldn't handle that miss as he let out a groan before crashing to the floor.
"I thought that was a goal for sure," Dave muttered before biting his lower lip.
Mateo was the one to help the midfielder up and cheer him up like he always did.
"Unique FC have been quite unlucky in this match, blowing chances that could have easily been converted to goals, even Mateo is having a hard time scoring, by all rights, he should have a goal by now." Jim expressed.
"Yeah, but the same can be said about Ronino FC, just imagine blowing two penalty kick opportunities in a single match," Steve commented.
"Yeah, that's awful, really awful."
'So far, and I still haven't gotten the chance to use this shot-stopping attribute, it's almost like it's useless to me at this point.' Dave said subconsciously as he watched Ronino FC players move the ball around from his box.
That was said mainly to get Catherine to react, but he also wanted to say it.
"Hmph."
Ronino FC were the ones moving the ball around now and they were seriously looking for a way to break through Unique FC's defense.
Unique FC were lacking one man so it would be quite logical for things to be easier for them but that didn't seem to be the case as Norman knew the best way to close up the gap that was going to make things easier for them.
Zen received the ball back from Sandro after he was stopped right on his track, and just before Ferran could get to the midfielder, he moved the ball back further.
The defender who received the ball had to send it flying over to Xavier but that was a mistake as Frankie popped up from nowhere to steal the ball mid-air.
"Nice interception by Frankie."
Frankie quickly sent the ball rolling to Minino and just as the midfielder got his foot on the ball, he was taken down from behind by a Ronino FC defender.
"Oh, dear, that doesn't look good."
That was no exaggeration as Minino was lying on the floor with his hands on his right foot and it looked like he was in a lot of pain.
There was no doubt that that was a terrible challenge worthy of punishment.
A lot of people were expecting the referee to show the player a red card because there wouldn't be any argument there if that happened, but the referee showed him a yellow card instead, something that a lot of fans found surprising, and Unique FC players and staff didn't like.
'What is going on? Aima's tackle wasn't even that bad and he got a straight red, why in the world is he getting just a yellow card?' Dave said subconsciously with a confused expression on his face.
"I don't think Unique FC players are going to be happy with that decision seeing how their teammate was sent off for a less offensive challenge," Jim said.
Merino sure had a lot of things to say to the referee but the official didn't budge and rather decided to book him for speaking to him in an unacceptable manner.
"That's Unique FC's third booking of the night and Merino's first card this season," Steve said.
There was really nothing the home team could do about the decision besides complain and hope that Minino would be able to continue.
Fortunately for them, after receiving some attention from the medical team, Minino was able to get up, he was limping a bit, but he was sure that he would be able to continue.
"Talk about a fair match," Dave muttered before crossing his arms.
The match continued until the eighty-seventh minute and so far none of the teams had been able to produce a goal as Unique FC was still leading one goal to nothing.
The home side came up with a lot of brilliant chances, but they were quite unlucky with their finishing.
Ronino FC on the other hand had not been able to do much, and now that the match had entered the eighty-eight minutes, they were the ones with the ball.
Zen received the ball from one of the other midfielders before quickly pushing it to Sandro.
The striker avoided Roland completely as he shifted the ball a little to the middle before he fired the ball toward the goalpost.
"Sandro!"
The ball was fired toward the top left side of the goalpost and because Dave wasn't in a really good position, he used something he had not used in a match before.
[ Thrust activated ]
With the help of thrust, he was able to get to the ball fast enough to send it over the bar for a corner kick.
"At this point, I'm not even surprised, another stupendous save from Dave to keep their lead safe," Jim said.
"That was a clean save, I don't think there's any argument about who's the best goalkeeper in the league so far this season," Steve commented.
"Yeah, no argument at all."
Zen was standing over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle as everyone gathered in the box, and as soon as he heard it, he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying into the box.
Adolf was marking Sandro because he knew how deadly he was with headers and fortunately and at the same time unfortunately, the ball was heading their way.
Adolf sprang up and ended up being the person to make contact with it, and what he did was push the ball up to give Dave the space to jump up and grab it and that worked out well for him, but things didn't end there.
Ronino FC players happened to have caught sight of something that the referee didn't see as they were gathered around him touching their arms to show that Adolf's arms made contact with the ball when he headed it up.
The referee didn't see it himself and could have just waved it off if he wanted to, but he decided to go check VAR.
'So, now he's going to check VAR.'
"It would be terrible for Unique FC if they get to face a third penalty kick in this match, they may not be able to get away from this one if it happens."
"Well, we're about to find out."
It didn't take long before the referee began to make his way back to the pitch and as soon as he got back, he blew his whistle and pointed to the spot for a penalty kick.
"Oh, dear it's another penalty."
"Seriously?" Dave muttered with a confused expression on his face.
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