Peeling away from the position she'd taken up on the right, Richie was now heading in field to try and help Sue. Joey had continued her run down the left flank in front of Sue, but was being marked one to one by an Avengers defender who Richie thought of as Whippet. Meanwhile, Emma had crossed paths with Richie on a diagonal run, dragging her marker out wide right to where her captain had just come from, creating a great big hole for her friend to run into. Glancing up, Sue spotted Richie dashing towards her. With footfalls coming up fast behind her, Sue thrust out her stick, sending the ball on a trajectory towards her captain. Seizing the ball out of the warm air, Richie spun sharply, changing her direction and heading straight towards the opposition's goal, grasping her stick with just her right hand, although comfortable on the run with either. It would have been hard to find a better demonstration of stick handling on the entire planet at that precise moment.
Swarming all over the Avengers, the Salisbridge team's midfielders were breaking their necks to catch up with play, in the hope of scoring another goal. Turning her head, Richie hoped to catch sight of that elusive run from one of her teammates, one that she could pick out and then thread the eye of the needle, one that would almost certainly lead to a goal. But at the moment, it just wasn't on. So with little option, she kept hold of the ball, jinking and turning, ducking and dodging.
Sue had come inside from her left position, after her storming run up the outside and pinpoint accurate pass to Richie, and although slightly behind play, she had a pretty clear view of what was going on. And what she saw bothered her... A LOT! The Avengers' huge, muscular defender had murder in her eyes, the object of her rage being Richie, at least that's the way it looked to Sue. Not knowing what else to do, she pushed her burning legs as fast as they would move and beyond, hoping at the very least to warn her captain, who seemed momentarily distracted, looking around for that perfect pass.
Having slowed her run, Richie turned and cut inside, running in an arc right in front of the goal, but some way out, thinking about the possibility of a shot, as currently no obvious pass presented itself. In the past, despite the difficulty, she had scored from just this kind of range. As this thought flickered in and then out of her consciousness, her internal sense of danger sprang from nothing into a high pitched screaming voice, warning her of an impending threat. Tilting her head right, she could just make out Attitude charging at full speed towards her, stick in an almost horizontal position, about to make contact. The only thing she had time to think was, 'This is going to hurt.' But to her surprise, and that of the hulking great defender, Sue quite literally flew between the two of them, taking the full force of Attitude's stick on her right arm, a sickening sound echoing around the pitch from the contact. Immediately she hit the ground, shrieking out in pain as she did so. Instantly Richie was at her side, her stick with the ball still cradled in it discarded on the turf beside her.
Abruptly the official's shrill whistle rang out across the pitch, louder and sharper than it had sounded at any other point in the match. Storming across the pitch towards the villain of the piece, Attitude, the umpire pulled out a yellow card, held it out in front of her face, said the words, "Illegal contact," and signalled with his arm towards the penalty area, to which she duly trudged off to serve her two minute suspension.
Most of the Salisbridge team, with the exception of Harriet the goalie and Angela the defender, had gathered around Sue, who was now at least sitting up on the pristine turf, nursing her injured arm. Suddenly, making a big fuss, a stern looking woman in a black uniform came barging through.
"St John's ambulance... let me through please. Clear the way!"
Both sets of players surrounding Sue all took a step back. Richie stayed where she was, right by Sue's side, as the woman placed her medical kit on the ground and started to carefully take a look at the damaged arm. Immediately it became clear that Sue would take no further part in the match, and judging from the dark purple colour that was rapidly spreading from the site of the impact, a trip to hospital looked inevitable. As indeed it was! Sue was led off to the waiting ambulance, with Jan promising to pack up her sticks and the rest of her kit and meet her there. Richie tried to accompany her friend on the walk across to the ambulance, but the stern looking woman waved her away, telling her in no uncertain terms to get back to her match. So reluctantly she did, wandering back to find her stick and the ball, as well as an... argument! Joey, the Salisbridge winger, was currently being restrained by Emma and Poppy, all the while telling the Avengers left on the pitch exactly what she thought about their new player. And although Emma and Poppy were trying to make peace (after all, this was a friendly match, being played for charity) they couldn't help but echo her sentiments. Richie intervened by stepping between Joey and their opponents.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"THAT," spat Joey, "was nothing short of deliberate. And everyone here knows it."
Quiet, impossibly so, that was a fitting description of the entire Avengers team. They had all seen quite clearly what had happened, with some now in a state of shock, and others unsure of how to deal with the situation. Normally you stuck by your teammates, but this was something else altogether.
The matter was settled by the Salisbridge captain who, like everybody else, knew that the attack was meant for her, and was very much premeditated.
"Enough!" she ordered. "We have a game to play, in front of all these wonderful spectators, and I for one want to show them what our sport is all about. Passion, power, aggression, agility, all channelled in the right way... into playing our beloved sport. But let's not forget fairness, sporting behaviour, teamwork and just the sheer exhilaration of actually playing. Let them see us all having fun. I for one don't turn up and do this because I have to and it's a chore. I play because I want to, because the thrill I get is like nothing else." At this point something deep within her subconscious tickled her brain, wriggling just outside her reach, elusive but there, promising something more, something else, something... forgotten! "I love playing this sport, as I'm pretty sure all of you do. Let's show everybody how it should be played, and let's damn well enjoy it!"
With the Avengers all nodding in agreement, echoing every sentiment that Richie had just expressed, Joey pulled free of her teammates and headed out towards the wing. Richie picked up her stick with the ball still lodged inside it, and everybody else took up their positions.
With the award of a free position, both teams stood ready to start, both a player down, with Sue heading off to hospital in the ambulance, Salisbridge not having any substitutes, and Attitude for the Avengers being consigned to the penalty area for the next two minutes. Turning to look at Emma, Richie gave her friend a very crafty wink, something Emma returned, unseen to everyone but Richie. They'd practised this over and over. Now it was time to see if it worked. The umpire blew his whistle. Richie took off towards the outside of the right post of the goal, legs moving as fast as they could, stick turning all the time. Emma crossed behind her friend, already a touch in front of the opponent marking her. The Avengers keeper stepped forward to narrow the angle. Just before she reached the goal circle, Richie swivelled round and, on the move, flicked the ball back across the front edge of the goal circle. Wrong footed for a split second, the Avengers' goalie had absolutely no chance as Emma swept up the ball and hurled it into the bottom left corner of the goal. Perfect!