[ 710/1885 exp ]
'It's going to take a while before I can level up again.'
<Not if you can pull off a goal and assist in a match again or do something better>
'Uh….I don't think it's going to be easy to do this again but I'll try.'
[ Career info ]
[ Name: Dave Richards ]
[ Age: 21 ]
[ Height: 187 cm ]
[ Position: Goalkeeper ]
[ Strong foot: right ]
[ Developed qualities: Shot stopper ]
[ Developing qualities: Sweeper Keeper, ball playing keeper. ]
[ Current Team: Unique FC ]
[ Status: Starter ]
[ Market value: €1M ]
[ Matches played: 93 ]
[ Goals: 4 ]
[ Assists: 7 ]
[ Shots faced: 273 ]
[ Goals conceded: 91 ]
[ Saves made: 165 ]
[ Penalties faced: 28 ]
[ Penalties saved: 06 ]
[ Clean sheets: 11 ]
[ Career average rating: 7.9 ]
[ Awards ]
[ Man of the Match awards: 08 ]
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt[ Trophies ]
[ Minor trophies: ×1 Bilbeth Charity cup ]
[ Major trophies: 0 ]
[ Records set/broken ]
[ Bilbeth Premier League record: First goalkeeper to score from 42 yards ]
[ Only goalkeeper to score twice and assist in a season ]
[ Goalkeeper with the most consecutive clean sheets (06) ]
[ First goalkeeper to ever score and assist in the same match ]
<You have a career average rating this high when you haven't gone anywhere yet>
'Yeah, but most players don't know what their career average rating is so you can't really say whether it's weird or not.'
<Eight man of the match awards in ninety-three games>
'Yeah, is there anything wrong with that?'
<I didn't say that, it's okay for a goalkeeper at least but your most impressive stat is having four goals and seven assists in ninety-three games most goalkeepers don't have up to half of that number>
'Yeah, it's quite impressive but I'm still looking forward to increasing them.'
At this point, there was no doubt that he had already become a seasoned goalkeeper capable of putting up a good performance in any match even without all the advantages his system gave him but he still wanted more, there was still a lot of room for improvement and he was going to take full advantage of it.
Winning against Junami United by that huge goal margin couldn't take them past Dynamo FC who also succeeded in winning their match day ten match and were still sitting in second place three points ahead of them.
However, they were now five points ahead of Lesica United who lost their match yesterday. This meant that they weren't in danger of getting pushed off their position anytime soon while they tried to overtake Dynamo FC and then Supreme United.
There was really no celebration from the team after that stupendous win as Norman came in later to congratulate them and then tell them about their next match which was going to be their reason for traveling to the largest city of Italy next week, the capital of Italy, Rome.
They were going there to face current Serie A league leaders S.S Lazio in what would be their first match of the Europa Conference league group stage.
After telling the players the few things he wanted to tell them, they were all free to go.
Most of his teammates wanted to go somewhere nice and do something nice that evening because they had a day off the next day because of that victory but Dave didn't feel like joining them so he decided to leave early.
Just as he opened the door and stepped out of the building, he spotted his father coming up the few stairs leading up to the door.
"Oh, hey, Dad." The goalkeeper said as soon the two got close enough to each other.
"Dave," Tom said as his face suddenly lit up with a smile. "How're you doing?"
"I'm fine what about you?" He replied.
"I'm okay, I couldn't make it to the match because I had something urgent to take care of, but I know you guys won six goals to nothing and you scored a goal and assisted Mateo's second goal." Tom expressed.
"Yeah, you got that all right."
"That's pretty impressive but you know you could have done more than that if you were upfront or in midfield at least."
'Wow, so you're coming out to do it yourself.'
"So, you think doing it as a midfielder or forward would have been better than doing it as a goalkeeper." The goalkeeper said before crossing his arm.
"No, I said you could have done better if you were in those positions."
"I heard you the first time, Dad, but didn't you see the news?"
"Huh?"
"I created a record, Dad, the first goalkeeper to score and assist in a match, that record wouldn't have been created if I wasn't a goalkeeper." He affirmed.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that," Tom said before placing his right hand on his forehead.
"I guess trying to force your ideals on your son is a good reason to forget that he accomplished something today and congratulate him."
"Force my ideals?"
"Yes, Dad, I know you were the one that sent Mr. Lucas to tell me all those things and now you're trying to do it yourself." Dave expressed.
"You knew?" Tom said with a shocked expression.
"Yeah, it was pretty obvious, I guess he didn't tell you about me finding out." The goalkeeper said.
Tom didn't know what to say and just slowly put down his head. He was only trying to make the suggestion in a sly manner unaware that his son had already seen through him a long time ago.
"I thought we've been through this already, Dad, being a goalkeeper is what I want, it's what I love to do. Aren't you proud seeing your son do what most goalkeepers can't or do you just despise goalkeepers to the extent that you still can't bear your son becoming one despite the fact that he is doing well if not great?"
"No, Dave, it's not that."
"Then, what is it? Why don't you want me to continue my career as a goalkeeper?"
To that question, Tom didn't have any particular answer.
"I didn't come to you directly when I found out about what you were trying to do with Mr. Lucas because I don't want things to go back to the way it used to be between us and things won't ever go back to that no matter how much you try to persuade. But, seriously, I just wish you would stop." He said before slowly walking past him.
"Dave, wait."
"I just wonder what you thought about Grandpa since he was a goalkeeper too." The goalkeeper said before continuing his walk.
<Wow, you handled that better than I expected> Catherine said as soon as he entered his car and shut the door.
'I just told him how I truly felt, there was nothing else to it.' He replied before he started the engine and zoomed off.
He got home by 5:50 PM, and after parking his car in its usual parking spot, he made his way to the door and opened it with his key.
As soon as he entered the house, he turned on the lights to see that there was no one there unlike what he was expecting.
"I guess she isn't home yet." He muttered before he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of chilled water from the freezer.
He raised the bottle above his mouth and gobbled down the content before he pressed the empty container and threw whatever was left of it inside the trash can.
He stood there for a while and stared at the fridge before he let out a deep sigh and turned around to start making his way to the living room.
<Hey, what is up with you?>
'What are you talking about?' The goalkeeper replied as he got to the couch and slowly sat down on it.
<Why are you like this? You just won a match>
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm'Don't think anything of it, I'm just really tired.'
Just like he said, Catherine pretended that it was nothing and proceeded not to ask him anything about it anymore.
The goalkeeper lay on the couch with his gaze on the ceiling and he stayed like that for a few minutes before the door was suddenly pushed for Emma to enter the house with something covered with black nylon in her hands.
"You're already home, that's a surprise." She said before she made her way to him and dropped was in her hands.
"Welcome back," Dave muttered trying to sound a bit lively.
Emma stared at him for a while with a questioning look on her face before she got close to him, grabbed him by his chin, and pulled his face a little closer to hers.
"Hey, what's wrong? Your face doesn't look bright for someone who just won a match with a huge goal margin and set an impressive record in that match." She said staring directly staring into his eyes.
"No, it's nothing, I'm just tired." He replied, shaking his head a few times.
"Are you sure that's what's wrong?" She asked.
"Yeah, I wouldn't say it if it wasn't what's wrong." He replied.
She didn't exactly buy what he said but it didn't look like he was going to tell her anything so she decided to move on to something else.
"Okay, I know you're tired, but you'll have to stay awake for a few more minutes."
"Why?"
"Because I have a surprise for you." She replied.
"Surprise? I don't remember today being my birthday."
"Yeah, it's not your birthday but you did do something special."
"Wait, you mean…"
"Yeah, you guessed correctly." She said before pulling the nylon covering the item on the table to reveal a cake with a writing on it, a writing that read, 'Congratulations on your new record.'
"Wow." Dave's face brightened up with a smile as soon as he saw it.
"I see you like it." She said with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, I love it, you really went out of your way to get me a cake."
"Well, I didn't congratulate you back at the stadium so I decided to do it this way." She replied.
Dave didn't know what to say and just stared at her with a bright smile on his face.
"Anyway, I heard you guys have a day off tomorrow." She said.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I also have a day off tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She replied with a nod. "So, don't you think we should go somewhere nice and have fun just the two of us?"
"Just the two of us? Yeah, that would be nice." He replied with a nod.
"Cool, we'll talk about where we'll be going later then, but before that, we'll have to eat this cake." She said before she got up and made her way to the kitchen to get a knife.
'The beach would be nice for a day off.' The goalkeeper thought with his hand on his chin.
<Wow, what a mood glow up>