Short Story Competition: School Years 4 to 5 winner ‘The Underdog’s Goal’

By David Brenig

This moment is the one I have dreamt for all my life. Standing on the pitch, dressed in the my teams kit, the GFA (Gibraltar Football Association) league badge stitched on my sleeve. The floodlights illuminate the pitch, and every soul in the town is watching me.

But I am not meant to be here.

I am just a substitute, the boy who practices hard but is never picked. My mother says I should be patient, but patience won't score me any goals.

Tonight we are playing one of the best teams in the league. The score is one-one. Only five minutes remaining. Our captain has been injured and is limping off the pitch. The coach gazes around in all directions and finally calls out my name.

I freeze. Me?

I nervously pull at my kit and step onto the pitch. It felt like my heart was drumming louder than the fans taking up the song.

As I speak, there's fireworks going off with people playing; quick passes maize the game very frenzied. I am storming up the right wing, asking for the ball, but no one is passing it to me. And why should they? I'm just the sub.

And it's the last minute; a defender knocks the ball rather poorly. It rolls toward me. It's finally happening.

I took a deep breath, shifted my weight, and took the strike. The ball was flying in the air, near the keeper’s outstretched hands ­GOOOAAAL!!!

The stadium crashed. Teammates were congratulating us as they buried me. Fans chanted my name. I just could not believe it.

As the final whistle blows, I look up on the Rock looming over the stadium. I came here as a nobody. I now leave as a hero.

Maybe patience does score goals after all.

Judge’s Comments:

A great short story that is captivating from start to finish. The story takes the reader on a journey through the narrator’s thoughts and feelings which are eloquently displayed by this young writer. The reader is immediately thrust into a high-stakes moment, the anticipation, nerves, pride and joy are all so clearly expressed on the page. The writer sets the pace of the story perfectly, and uses different sentence structures and language techniques to express tension and emotions.