Grant Hanley trudged off the pitch, his face a thunderous mask of injustice, leaving his ten teammates to face the final twenty minutes of a brutal cup derby a man down.

The Orion FC players were buzzing, the scent of a famous victory in their nostrils.

Ethan stood on the sideline, his mind a whirlwind of frantic calculations. The injustice of the red card was a bitter pill to swallow, but he had no time for anger.

He had a crisis to manage.

"Ben!" he roared, getting the attention of his remaining senior center-back, Ben Gibson. "You're the captain now! Get them organized! We're going to a 4-4-1! Drop deep, stay compact! No more gaps!"

On the pitch, the players were a mixture of fury and defiance.

"An absolute joke!" Kenny McLean spat, glaring at the referee. "He won the ball clean!"

"Forget it!" Gibson barked, taking charge. "It's done. We don't complain; we fight. Get in your shape. Now!"

Across the pitch, Leo was a picture of conflicted professionalism. He knew the red card was a terrible decision, but he was also a manager with a one-man advantage.

He made a quick, attacking substitution, bringing on another winger.

"Well, the drama at The Apex is unrelenting!" the commentator's voice crackled. "The captain is off, and Ethan Couch is forced into a desperate defensive reshuffle. LeoTheHunter, sensing blood in the water, is going for the kill! Can the ten men of Apex United possibly hold on?"

The resulting free-kick from the "foul" was in a terrifyingly dangerous position.

Orion's best player struck it, a beautiful, curling effort that was destined for the top corner.

But Angus Gunn, who had been a spectator for much of the game, flew across his goal, his body at full stretch, and tipped the ball over the bar with his fingertips. It was a save of breathtaking quality.

"THAT'S MY KEEPER!" Ethan screamed, his voice raw with a mixture of relief and pride.

The next ten minutes were a heroic, backs-to-the-wall defensive masterclass.

Apex, led by the colossal Ben Gibson and the tireless Kenny McLean, threw their bodies in front of everything.

They were no longer trying to play their beautiful, passing football. This was about survival. This was a street fight.

"Nothing gets through!" Gibson roared, after making a thunderous, crunching tackle. "Nothing!"

Orion laid siege to the Apex goal.

They had chance after chance, but the ten men in royal blue were a wall of pure, defiant will. A shot from the edge of the box was blocked by Sørensen.

A dangerous cross was headed clear by a backtracking Jonathan Rowe.

In the 85th minute, Orion created their best chance.

A mazy dribble from their winger saw him get to the byline and cut the ball back to their striker, who was unmarked, six yards from goal. It was a certain goal.

But from out of nowhere, the debutant, James McCarthy, who had come on for a midfielder, launched himself into a desperate, last-ditch slide, deflecting the ball over the bar. It was a tackle that was almost identical to the one Hanley had been sent off for.

The Apex players mobbed him, a roar of approval going up from the home crowd.

They were bending, but they would not break.

As the game entered the final minute of stoppage time, it seemed that the ten men of Apex had done the impossible.

They had held on for a 0-0 draw and were heading to penalties.

Leo, in a final, desperate roll of the dice, urged his team forward for one last attack.

His winger beat his man and sent a hopeful, looping cross into the box.

It should have been a simple catch for Angus Gunn.

But as he came to claim it, his own defender, Ben Gibson, accidentally backed into him, causing him to fumble the ball. It dropped loose in the six-yard box.

A chaotic scramble ensued.

The ball was stabbed towards goal, blocked, and then fell perfectly to an Orion striker.

He smashed it into the roof of the net.

1-0 to Orion. In the 92nd minute.

The Orion players exploded in a celebration of pure, unadulterated relief.

Leo sprinted down the touchline, a wild look of triumph on his face.

The Apex players collapsed to the turf, their heroic defensive effort undone by a single, cruel moment of misfortune.

But the referee hadn't blown his whistle.

He was looking at his linesman, who was flagging furiously.

After a brief, tense conversation, the referee blew his whistle and signaled for a foul against Orion. He had seen a push on the goalkeeper.

The goal was disallowed.

The emotional whiplash was brutal.

The Orion players were now surrounding the referee, screaming in protest. The Apex players were looking at each other, a dawning sense of disbelief on their faces.

They had been given a reprieve. A miracle.

Amidst the chaos, the referee awarded a free-kick to Apex, deep inside their own penalty area. Angus Gunn, his heart still pounding, placed the ball down and, seeing the entire Orion team pushed upfield arguing, he launched a massive, hopeful punt as far down the pitch as he could.

It was a clearance born of desperation, a "get it away from my goal" hoof.

But it was also perfectly aimed.

The ball sailed over the halfway line, dropping into the vast, empty space behind the Orion defense. And chasing it, with the last ounce of energy in his body, was the lone Apex striker, Viktor Kristensen.

He was one-on-one with the last defender. The only defender. The S-Rank wall. Matias Gallardo.

Gallardo, who had been a flawless, unbeatable colossus all game, suddenly found himself in a nightmare scenario.

He was in a footrace with a player who was just as fast as him, with seventy yards of open green grass behind him.

The two young prodigies sprinted towards the bouncing ball. Gallardo, using his strength, just managed to get his body in front of Viktor, shielding the ball, letting it run towards his own goalkeeper who was now rushing out of his area.

It was a perfect piece of defending. He had the situation under control.

But then, the unthinkable happened.

As Gallardo shielded the ball, he heard his goalkeeper shout, "Away!" meaning he should just clear it.

But at the same moment, he heard his manager, Leo, scream from the sideline, "Leave it!" meaning he should let the keeper deal with it.

In that split second of conflicting information, the S-Rank defender hesitated.

He did neither.

He tried to do both.

He tried to leave the ball, but his body was already in the motion of clearing it.

His panicked, last-second touch was a clumsy, awkward one.

He didn't clear it. He didn't leave it.

He passed it.

A perfectly weighted, beautifully executed, 20-yard pass.

Past his own onrushing, horrified goalkeeper.

And into the back of his own empty net.

The world stopped.

The ball rolled over the line.

The referee looked at his watch and blew the final whistle.

1-0 to Apex United.

"...!"

There was no celebration.

The Apex players were too shocked, too exhausted to even move.

They just stood there, staring at the Orion goal, then at each other, then at the scoreboard.

Leo had collapsed to his knees in his technical area, his head in his hands.

And Matias Gallardo, the S-Rank wonderkid, the impenetrable wall, the hero of Orion FC, just stood there, all alone in the middle of the pitch, staring at his own goal, a picture of pure, tragic, and utterly comical disbelief.

Ethan stood on the sideline, a slow, disbelieving smile spreading across his face.

He looked at the final, golden notification that had just appeared in his vision.

[MATCH WON]

[SECRET OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: 'The Derby Day Dominator' - Defeat your designated rival in a competitive match.]

[REWARD: Your rival, 'LeoTheHunter', must wear your club's kit as his manager avatar for the next 30 days.]

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