Chapter 101: Lactics Equalizer.
The fourth official’s board went up, after the corner, with three Middlesbrough players on the touchline and one for Wigan as the noise inside the DW Stadium shifted from restless to razor-edged.
"Right then," the commentator began, voice dipping as the camera panned to the touchline.
"Here come the changes. Middlesbrough bringing on two defenders, looks like Marc Bola and Dael Fry, and they’re also sending on Rodrigo Muniz, the Brazilian forward with pace to burn. You know what that means... it’s that time of the game."
The co-commentator chuckled lightly.
"Yep, shut up shop, hit on the counter when the opponents are growing threatening, but you do not want to hand over the rest of the keys to them. Classic endgame tactic. You can feel it, Borough are going to sit back and try to see this out or steal another goal late."
As the changes settled, the rhythm of the match sharpened into chaos.
The ball barely stopped moving as both teams began chasing and contesting every pass and clearance.
The roar of the crowd now felt constant, like a storm circling the pitch.
From the touchline, Dawson barked orders, his hands slicing the air.
"Push! Higher! Go!" he shouted, before turning to Max Power, Tilt, and Whatmough.
"You three stay! No breaks!" His words barely carried over the noise, but his players caught enough to nod in his direction before immediately moving back.
The next instant, the tension snapped.
Middlesbrough’s keeper launched the ball long, a booming clearance that spun high before dropping between the halfway line and Wigan’s final third.
Rodrigo Muniz was already sprinting after it, cutting the angle on Darikwa, who scrambled to keep up.
"Uh oh, here we go!" the commentator shouted. "Muniz against Darikwa, the substitute’s got legs on him!"
Rodrigo nudged the ball inside with a smooth flick of his boot, carving half a yard of space.
Darikwa lunged but missed by inches as Muniz cut in toward goal, his body tilting like a sprinter leaning into the bend.
Ben Amos tensed on his line, every muscle coiled as he waited for the shot from Muniz, and it came, low and hard.
Amos dove, full stretch, fingertips pushing the ball onto the post.
It rattled against the woodwork and spun back into play, with the stadium gasping, at the loose ball spinning in the air.
From behind, Leo tore across the box from midfield, closing the gap like a bullet.
Rodrigo was first to react, jumping to head the rebound, but Leo arrived a heartbeat sooner.
Launching himself backwards, his body twisted mid-air, and with a thunderous overhead kick, he smashed the ball clear off the line.
It cannoned off the underside of the crossbar, bounced twice, and flew out to the edge of the box, where Joe Bennett swept it away.
"WHAT A CLEARANCE!" the commentator roared as the DW erupted in a guttural, shaking roar.
"Unbelievable from Leo! He’s kept Wigan alive!"
His teammates swarmed him, hauling him up, fists pumping the air as the noise rolled through the stands like thunder, every fan on their feet.
Ben Amos, still catching his breath, pointed forward, voice hoarse.
"FOCUS! Stay switched on!"
And immediately, his mates turned to face the ball.
The ensuing corner came swinging in viciously, but this time Amos was ready.
He surged upward, plucked it from the sky, then sank to the turf, clutching it to his chest as the stadium exhaled.
After a few precious seconds, he rolled it wide, straight to Leo, who hadn’t gone forward after the corner.
Leo took off again, nudging the ball forward with light touches, the Boro players already backpedalling.
But his steps were too inviting for Rodrigo Muniz, who stepped across to press, trying to box him in, but Leo’s touch was sharper, faster.
With a little feint and a sudden shift of balance, he slid the ball past the Brazilian, looping around him in one clean motion.
Rodrigo grabbed at his shirt, but Leo shrugged him off, powering forward as the pitch stretched ahead, open and green.
"Look at him go again," came the commentary. "He’s been everywhere this half!"
Leo slowed near midfield, glanced up once, then sent a diagonal pass that carved through Boro’s lines.
It arced perfectly toward McLean, who met it with a cushioned header to Joe Bennett, overlapping on the left.
Bennett didn’t hesitate.
He surged down the flank, cut inside, and whipped in a curling ball that bent wickedly across the face of the goal.
Broadhead arrived just in time to meet it, stretching, stabbing a foot at it, but Zack Steffen, the Boro keeper, dove low, palming it onto the post.
The ball spun out again as the way end breathed a sigh of relief.
"End-to-end stuff here!" the commentator cried. "This is madness!"
The rebound, however, fell wide right to Leo, causing the away fans to tense, looking at the player who had been making their players look lost all half.
He caught it on the bounce, near the corner of the box, eyes scanning the bodies in front of him with the crowd on its toes.
"What’s he gonna do here?" the co-commentator asked, voice tight.
Leo shaped like he was going to retreat, pulling the ball back with the inside of his foot, but then, in one seamless motion, he twisted, letting instinct take over.
His left and weak boot swept through the ball, sending it curling across the goal, fast and flat.
It sliced between red shirts, skimming just beyond a lunging defender, too quick for anyone to stop.
And then, at the far post, Joe Bennett arrived again, right boot outstretched.
The ball kissed the outside of his foot and slipped through Steffen’s legs, nestling into the net as the scoreboard as if waiting for it, immediately, changed from 0-1 to 1-1
"GOAAAAAAL! WIGAN HAVE DONE IT!" the commentary came as the DW Stadium exploded.
The stands shook, a wall of noise surging forward as players piled into the corner.
Bennett leapt to his feet, arms wide, his face lost in the chaos and behind him, Darikwa wrapped an arm around Leo, who was still catching his breath near the touchline.
He didn’t join the pile right away.
Darikwa just lifted him slightly off the ground, grinning, shouting something in his ear before setting him back down.
Then the two jogged toward the madness at the corner flag, swallowed by the noise, the crowd, the moment.
"Wigan have found life in the dying minutes, and what a lovely ball to set up the chance for Joe Bennet. What a kid, and such guts."
Dawson’s celebration was brief, a clenched fist in the air, a yell he couldn’t contain, but it didn’t last more than a heartbeat.
As the stadium around him trembled under the weight of the noise, he was already straightening his jacket, eyes burning toward the pitch.
The adrenaline coursed through him, but his voice cut through the chaos, sharp and measured.
"Back in! Focus! We’re not done yet!" he shouted, motioning his players toward their own half.
His words were half-lost under the deafening roars, but the message was clear enough.
The Wigan players jogged back to position, still buzzing from the goal.
Sweat and breath mingled with disbelief, but every one of them looked sharper now, alert, alive, unified.
Middlesbrough, on the other hand, were in frantic motion.
Their captain barked orders, the defenders rearranging themselves into shape while Steffen muttered something under his breath, slapping the ball against his gloves.
As the restart came, the tempo shot up again.
It was chaos, pure and beautiful.
Both teams threw everything they had left into the final minutes.
"It’s frontkick action. This has turned into a war of willpower! Nobody’s holding back!"
Each time Boro tried to break, Leo was there, closing angles, harrying passes, tugging the rhythm of the game back toward Wigan’s control.
The ball zipped from McLean to Power, then out wide to Darikwa as Leo, hovering in the pocket between lines, called for it.
The pass came, skipping along the turf as he took one touch to steady, another to lift his head, and there it was again, that pocket of space, just behind the Boro backline.
He didn’t hesitate.
A deft lift of the right boot saw the ball sail in a perfect arc, rising just enough to clear the centre-backs before dipping beautifully toward the left channel, where Bennett had already started his run.
The crowd held its breath, the away fans scrunching up in their seats.
"Here they go again, Bennett’s in! This could finish it!" the commentator cried, voice cracking with tension.
Bennett stretched his stride, reaching for the dropping ball, before shooting the ball past Steffen, but the assistant referee’s flag shot up on the far side as the ball rattled the net.
The sound that followed was a collective groan of release,
"Oh, that was close, but a good finish by the left back who almost won it for Wigan and made it a brace for himself!" the co-commentator said.
"That’s so close, but the right call. Bennett just went a fraction early. But what a lovely pass by Leo to set it up once again. This boy is just too crafty for this rigid Boro team."
Bennett exhaled, hands on his knees, glancing over at the linesman with a frustrated grin.
"Almost," he muttered under his breath, already retreating into position.
Middlesbrough’s keeper, Zack Steffen, set the ball down at the edge of his box.
He took his time, rolling it slightly forward, letting the seconds tick by.
His teammates were already moving upfield, pushing for one final throw of the dice.
He drew in a deep breath, then launched it, a booming kick that sailed into the Wigan half, hanging in the air like a prayer.
For a heartbeat, every head turned upward, following the ball’s flight.
It dropped among a forest of bodies, red and blue shirts colliding, elbows and shoulders jostling, a desperate final exchange.
And then, the sound the away fans had been waiting for, for a while now came.
The referee’s whistle.
Three sharp blows.
That was it.