Bo Bo And Charlie’s Place In The Team

Bo Bo And Charlie’s Place In The Team By Paul McCann

It was a cold wet Sunday afternoon and Bo Bo and Charlie went for a new player selection game on the local football field that was waterlogged and uninviting . It was then decided to switch the game to the all weather gravel pitch nearby . The gravel pitch was well renowned for its hard gritty surface that took no prisoners . In the past there had been many a knee and hand scraped with a badly timed slide tackle but neve the less it taught you to be agile and fast to escape getting tackled for the ball .’

Bo Bo and Charlie lined up with the rest of their team and the game would only last half an hour and not the full ninety minutes , The purpose of the game was to discover the best local players to represent their village in the Northern districts cup that was soon to kick off .

Bo Bo was tough and fit thanks to his boxing training at Bosco’s and Charlie was agile and versatile because of the dancing skills he had acquired from the ballet lessons his mammy sent him to have the previous summer .

There was room for improvement in both of them and the local football team needed to field a new team after many of the previous team had moved out of the village .

.So the game started with Bo Bo getting a warning from the referee for going in too hard to win the ball . Charlie started to argue with the referee to support his best friend .

“Get off the grass ref , he won the ball fairly , “

The referee gave Charlie a hard stare and said

,

“I’ll be the judge of what’s fair and what a foul .’

Bo Bo noticed that Charlie started to get a little upset with what the ref had said and stepped in saying .

“Sorry Ref , I’m usually better keeping goal that being  defender “

The ref smiled and had a friendly word with the on the manager on the sideline who switched Bo Bo position from centre half to goal keeper .

Charlie was put in as centre half and the goal keeper was sent up into attack.

From that moment the game seemed to change for the better ,.

There was no question about Bo Bo’s ability with his hands and not many shots went past him in goal .

Charlie soon settled down in his centre half spot . So far no sweat , blood or tears had been shed .

The game was flowing well with no free kicks and the ball doing most of the work getting knocked around well at the feet of most players . No one wanted to hold on to the ball for long just in case they were tackled and fell to the gritty surface .

Bo Bo encouraged Charlie to sweep up beyond the half way line and to have a few shots at the other goalie . The encouragement paid off with Charlie opening the scoring with a right footed shot finding the back of the net which made him jump for joy in the air and as he jumped he held on to his shins that gave the impression he was floating on air .

His team mates all cheered and raised their hands in the air .

At times playing football had its moments when the team you played with took the lead . It stared to rain but the game continued and it was ok because everyone was having fun on the gravel pitch .

Bo Bo made some great saves plucking the ball from the heads of the other strikers before they could connect with it .

Once you were out on the filed playing the gravel pitch wasn’t that hard at all and it allowed more ball work and passes rather holding on and trying to dribble with the ball , Both teams played well but Bo Bo was born with the will to win and continued to shout at the players  encouraging them to give more effort . Somehow it paid off and they scored another goal , Soon after it was a one sided affair with Bo Bo and Charlies team winning two nil .

There were smiles from all the players and good sportsmanship was seen as the greatest factor on the field .

After the game was over , Bo Bo and Charlie were informed that they had been selected to play for Bosco Celtic the local village team .

On the way home Charlie said ,

“See that ref Bo Bo , he was lucky I kept my cool . “

Bo Bo replied ,.

“By the way Charlie thanks for your support “ Actually I’m glad it turned out the way it did cause I like keeping goals , That was a cracker of a goal you scored Charlie . “

Charlie was pleased with what was said and replied .

“Did you see the curve on that ball Bo Bo . I put a swivel that spun the ball into a bender of a shot . The keeper never smelt it Bo Bo “

Noticing Charlie was revelling in the compliment he laid some more praise over to Charlie and said ,

“Tell you what Charlie you have a rare talent there with the ball at your feet , in my opinion you could go anywhere with that . In fact you might have a future career as a professional player in a big club ,”

Charlie threw out his chest and said ,

“ Bo Bo when I’m a somebody playing for a big team . I’ll remember the words that you said “

Bo Bo smiled and replied ,

‘Charlie when you become  a somebody playing for a big team I will  everybody that I knew you when you were a nobody “

“Thanks Bo Bo “

Charlie replied ,

“ You what Bo Bo I like being a nobody because nobody’s perfect “

The both started to have a laugh ,

A few weeks passed with some regular practice and training before the first game of the knockout competition . The winner of the cup would be the unbeaten team at the end of the competition . On the first match to be played ,Bo Bo was in goal and Charlie was moved up front as centre forward . A large crowd stood around the football pitch in the village oval to watch Bosco Celtic play Mill Brook United  .

The atmosphere was electric and Bo Bo and Charlie were eager to get the game started . After the kick off Bosco’s went straight into attack and unlucky not to open the scire in the first five minutes .At half time both teams were evenly matched and the score was nil all ,

Charlie spoke to the coach of Bosco informing him about a hand ball the referee missed .The coach said

“Charlie don’t talk about stuff that the referee missed , lets try not to miss any chances that come our way . Bo Bo was always willing to speak for Charlie saying ,

“Charlie remember that swivel bender cannonball shot of yours/ Try to send one of those in the first chance you get “

Charlie smiled and replied ,

“ Right you be Bo Bo , I’m going to have a crack at that “

 :Bo Bo closed his fists and punched the air shouting to the rest of the team ./

“ Lets go now lads , let them knew who we are “

Charlie added ,

“We’re the Boscio Boys and out to win “

All the team cheered and the referee blew the whistle to kick off for the second half :

The half time pep talk paid off with a right foot bender from Charlie going into the back of then net .

The opposition responded in a furious attack to score an equaliser but their efforts to scored was thwarted by Bo Bo’s ability to punch away tricky crosses and dangerous through balls into the penalty box .

The referee was busy chewing Wrigley’s as the game became more intense and the drive to get an equaliser brought a penalty kick for Mill Brook with a late tackle on their main striker who broke through the defence .

Trying  to keep his composure the Mill Brook centre forward placed the ball on the penalty spot . Bo Bo never flinched , He had the eye of the tiger and was watching which was the strikers shoulders were leaning and before the ball was kicked Bo Bo was already in a dive to the right and was able to save the penalty with a two handed grab .

The people watching around  the ground applauded and some of them screamed out .

“Ah yeas no doubt Bo Bo “.  .

“Great save Bo Bo “

After the penalty there was no time left to kick off and Bosco won the first game by a goal to nil .

Now after their win the team was filled with confidence and an urge to keep winning . Tapper the team coach was very impressed with the effort Bosco hade made and now put together a plan he called the siege attack which was to put the opposition under constant pressure in their own half and taking as many shots as they could whenever the goal was in view .. He said to the team .

“I don’t care where you are on the filed so if you see the goal have shot , you might miss a dozen but one of them might  go in  ;

The new strategy worked as they had dominated the next few games with frequent attacks from the kick off and often scored within the first few minutes Tapper began to focus on penalty kicks with the team and taught them how to sent the keeper the wrong way by switching the kicking foot at the last moment which putting the keeper off balance before the kick . They practised that until it became perfect ...Bap Brennan the coach of Bosco Celtic was on a winning streak with his team and tried to keep them, focused and calm and instructed them to keep on the attack and to keep using the siege mentality with their attack , so while .the opposition were dribbling and passing , Bosco were shooting and scoring goals and winning games . They had momentum on their side and reached the semi-final of the Northern Districts Cup which was a very close game with a penalty shootout to decide who would make the final . Bo Bo was determined not to let a ball go into his net , He stopped each shot but the ricochet and rebound went in three time however the boys from Bosco never missed a penalty and were now in the final .

The day came for the cup final at the big stadium in the City , Lots of local supporters from the village came to watch the Bosco Celtic take on last years champions Beltex Rovers , The match was tight with both teams having chances without scoring . The game wen into extra time and just as the game was set for a penalty shootout . Bocso Celtic got a corner kick . Bo Bo left the goals and went up for the corner that Charlie took . The corner kick was beautifully taken and placed right in front of Bo Bo who leapt head and shoulders above the rest  and headed the winning goal into the back of the net . The cup now belonged to Bosco Celtic mush to the dislike and envy of Beltex Rovers who had a reputation of being kings of the competition .

The Bosco boys all got winners medals and the opposition had to settle for second best . Tapper the coach was over the moon with winning the final as a reward he took the team away to a holiday camp for a few days .

The End

By Paul McCann