Words in Hand

The two teams were ready. The cats and the pigs were all surrounding the fence. Bruno's mother and father were walking along, arm in arm, they could hear the cheering. We're going to watch and along they walked. Bruno was rubbing his hands, he was listening for the referee and the referee blew the whistle for the kickoff.

The Tigers started. Passed the ball, the winger ran down the wing, the ball soared through the air, he collected it on his chest and shot and it was a goal! The net bulged. They were 1-nil up, so quickly! One - nil! They rejoiced and cheered and clapped the scorer. They rushed back and were ready, but suddenly, it was 1-all! The time had moved so quickly. The referee settled them down, it was 1-all. Bruno, he was looking out of the window.

The lions, the dogs and the cats, their supporters were cheering because it was 1-all. 'We can beat them!' But then what happened? Suddenly The Lions passed the ball around. The Tigers were defending desperately, trying to grab hold of their attackers, but there was a shot! It was 2-1. (groans) Again, what happened? They were trying to make it 2-2, but it was still 2-1. They were attacking and defending, but the Lions were good, they played so well. And they were attacking The Tigers' goal, but they were defending desperately. The ball would come over and they would kick it away, but The Lions kept passing, controlling the ball. The winger beat a couple of men, passed it over and a lion jumped at the edge of the goal, should have tried to head for the goal but he didn't, he headed it down and another lion came in and hit it and it was in! It was a great goal and they cheered because it was 3-1. (groans) That meant The Tigers (Bruno's team) had lost.

The Tigers started to become worried. They thought they might have beaten The Lions. But the captain decided (Tex), he thought about it (he was the dog with the long ears) and at the same time Bruno was looking out of the window of the hut keeping his fingers crossed. What can we do? We must try, so they discussed. So they tried a new plan. They didn't pass it, they flipped it in front. So there was the goal and the players were in a line and the ball was flipped from head to head and then finally headed into the goal. It was a goal! 3-2! Great!

3-2. Let's try more. The Tigers wouldn't give up, they started passing the ball around. There were tackles and they were flying at each other and they were shooting and it came straight off the upright. (groans) We thought it was a goal, it was nearly 3-3, could have been 3-3! Backwards and forwards the game went. The pig belonging to The Tigers, the ball came across, he ran and dived and headed it, the goalkeeper tried to save it but it shot straight past him. It was 3-3! What a fantastic goal! Come on! They settled down again.