Stretching his arms and legs on the field, Jesse reminded himself to make sure not to dwell on the ball for long.
The guys at the community field had no joy at all, and they would bring you down hard, leaving you as broken as a rag doll.
Years ago, he had learned that the hard way, literally. He certainly did not need another lesson.
You know how the saying goes — once bitten, twice shy.
The second half soon kicked off, and with the added fresh legs, they started to string together some decent attacks, and they looked like they might be able to get back into it.
The opposition, this time, however, seemed content to sit back, defend their lead, and launch counters when they found the opportunity.
That seemed to be their tactic for the second half.
Eventually, Jesse got a touch of the ball.
His first touch of the ball was a quick one-two with the midfielder. He received the ball on the edge of the box and turned sharply before his marker could react, then, he unleashed a powerful shot. The ball flew towards the top corner at top speed, but the goalkeeper, diving at full stretch, managed to tip it over the bar miraculously.
It was a fantastic save, and the opposition celebrated it as though they had scored another goal.
Everything about the shot was perfect, and any other day, that would have gone in, but sadly, Jesse was denied by a rare moment of individual brilliance from the goalkeeper.
Jesse placed both hands to his head. 'So close...'
He jogged on and tried not to beat himself up too much — he had done everything right, after all, and there would no doubt be more chances in the game. He just had to make sure to keep pushing.
Play resumed with a corner kick, and Jesse positioned himself near the edge of the box, ready to pounce on any loose ball that came his way in the aftermath.
The midfielder swung in a good cross from the corner, but the striker mistimed his jump by a fraction too early and missed the ball entirely, allowing the opposition defender to clear the danger with a powerful header.
Luckily, the ball landed at the feet of one of Jesse's teammates, who quickly played it back to the midfielder who delivered another cross into the box.
Jesse being younger than everyone present on the field by several years, simply wasn't tall enough compared to them to make any sort of difference in the box. So, he waited again at its edge for the outcome.
Unfortunately, the ball never fell kindly for him. Instead, it was booted out even farther this time, which led to a foot race between the team's last defender and the opposition striker.
The defender, however, was up to the task and won the foot race, playing the ball back to the safety of the goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper then hoofed it forward to Jesse on the left wing, but the pass was far from perfect. Jesse had to stretch at full length on the touchline to flick the ball back in earning some whistle and screams of shock from the sparse crpwd.
Paying no attention to their mix of cheers dumbstruck astomishment, he quickly scrambled to his feet seeing the approach of the opposition's right-back from the corner of his eye.
Jesse moved the ball forward slowly, waiting for him to bite. And when he did, Jesse used his momentum against him by immediately knocking the ball through his legs which sent everyone who saw it into another flurry.
Jesse blitzed down the left wing at full speed, searching and waiting for his teammates to get into the perfect position for a goalscoring chance.
From the corner of his eye, he could see that the right-back was already closing in on him, so he would have to make a decision as soon as possible.
Eventually, he spotted the team's right winger making a run past his marker, and he played a precise through ball in his direction. The winger took it in stride and sprinted toward the goal, but his shot was blocked by a last-ditch tackle from the opposition's central defender.
Without wasting any time, the central defender belted the ball forward towards the striker near the center circle, who did a good job holding up play until the wingers arrived.
He layed the ball towards the right winger who ran for the penalty box and began cutting inside to create space for a shot. Eventually, he found the space he was looking for and took a shot, but luckily, the keeper was able to parry it away for a corner.
The match was becoming end-to-end football now, with both teams creating chances but failing to convert them so far.
The game resumed, and the opposition's corner was swung in with a menacing curl, which was met by the head of their towering center-back. But the goalkeeper managed to grab onto the ball in a chaotic scramble, before smothering it securely on the ground.
With the opposition still retreating, the goalkeeper, clutching the ball, scanned the field and hurled it long towards the halfway line where it was met by the team's attacking midfielder.
Jesse, drifting infield, called for the ball. But instead, the midfielder found an even better option and played a weighted pass towards the right winger.
The left back wasn't in position and there was only one center back in the way so the opposition's defense was wide open.
The right winger threaded a simple through ball towards the path of the striker, and without breaking stride, the striker directed the ball past the keeper and into the back of the net.
2-2
The team celebrated together with palpable joy. Finally, they were back into the game.
Buoyed by the equaliser, getting the next goal wouldn't be too difficult. There was still ten minutes of play left, after all, and that was more than enough time to score one more goal.
Possibly even two.
With their never-say-die attitude to the game, they had crossed the first two hurdles in their path — scoring a first goal was the first, and equalizing was the second. Now, only one final hurdle remained.
Chest heaving, Jesse wiped off the sweat from his brow and smiled.
'Let's win this game.'