He hadn't been to the Wimbles pub since he had come to Chu on the day of his resignation from Mr. Merry. With the team's promotion in the FA Cup, the media that usually follow their team has gradually increased, but Chu Zhongtian still misses the person who was willing to sit on the ground and chat with him for half an hour. He sincerely hoped that Mr. Merry would find a job that was even better than before.

Mr. Merry is just a small episode in Chu Zhongtian's life, his life has not been affected much, and he is still moving along the trajectory that has been set a long time ago.

Before Emily returns, Wimbledon has an important FA Cup game to play, and when the FA Cup is not played, it's the league.

Wimbledon this season has not been weakened by the absence of Russell, but has become stronger. Maybe it's because they're so strong in their own right, but it's just that a large part of the first season was spent on grinding the team, which affected their results. Otherwise, they should have been promoted in the first season.

Wimbledon have won all of their games so far, scoring 69 goals and conceding just nine goals in 17 league games, the most goals scored and the fewest conceded in the league so far. However, their opponents, AFC Wallingford, also performed well, so the points of the two teams did not stretch apart, Wimbledon is in first place with 51 points, and Warringford is second with 47 points.

Wimbledon are now focused on the FA Cup, they don't pay much attention to the league, but the team is still top. If they finish their FA Cup competition, it is estimated that promotion is inevitable...... Chu Zhongtian doesn't have any feelings about upgrading now, first, it's still far away, and second, if it continues to develop according to this achievement, it's difficult for them to upgrade if they don't want to.

He just wants to play the second round of the FA Cup now and try to get Emily back to be able to watch the third round of the FA Cup live. She gave herself a movie ticket, and she gave her a ball ticket.

On 4 December, Wimbledon hosted Hinkley United, opponents in the second round of the FA Cup main event, on their home turf. The small stadium, which can accommodate 4,200 people, is packed, and there are many fans outside the stadium. The Kings Ranch is not a fully enclosed stadium, and the fans are lying on the fence and watching the game from the gap between the four stands.

※※※ James. Merry stood outside the stadium, helplessly looking at the closed door, and there were many people around him with the same expressions as him. They're all poor creatures who came a little late and missed the game.

Merry didn't expect the Wimbledon fans to be so enthusiastic about the game, and he went out an hour earlier than his usual time to watch the game, arriving at the Kings Ranch only to see the black crowds and closed ticket windows.

Someone climbed up the wall and straddled the wall and looked in.

Someone below is shouting, "Hey, man! Score a goal and shout! ”

The person above replied to him: "You don't need me to shout, the whole audience will shout when the time comes!" ”

"Ah......h Whether Wimbledon scored or Hinckley United scored, it was impossible to be silent in the pitch.

"It's okay, guys, I'll broadcast it to you!" The guy on the wall was clearly a loud voice.

"Okay! Live! Ha ha! The group below burst into laughter.

Merry wanted to go back at first, he was not a Wimbledon fan after all, he supported Arsenal in north London, and he used to take the train from Wimbledon and then change to the tube to watch games in Highbury when he was not busy at work. Until now, he has to buy a season package for Arsenal every year, even if he can't actually watch a few games.

But when he saw the Wimbledon fans sitting on the wall, he dismissed the idea of leaving.

Not only him, but there were nearly 2,000 fans locked out, not to mention nearly 2,000 people, and not a single one left. They surrounded the stadium, standing or sitting outside the stadium, chatting with each other, even if they didn't know each other before, now they are partners, and more than a thousand people are waiting for the live broadcast from the wall.

There was a sudden uproar in the stadium that was even louder than before.

The chatters immediately stopped and looked over the wall.

The fans on the wall waved at them: "The player is out!" ”

"Oooooooo The people outside shouted with the people inside: "Wimbledon!!" Wimbledon!! Crazy Wimbledon!! ”

Merry didn't shout because he wasn't a Wimbledon fan, but he was thrilled. He had never experienced such an experience before...... After shouting for a while, the fans stopped and waited for the live stream from the guys on the wall.

"Guessing the coin...... Looks like we've got the right to pick sides! ”

"Not bad, not bad! This is a good sign! The people below began to talk about it.

"Alright, it's time to kick off!" There was a shout on the wall, and there was a sudden silence here, as if it had been rehearsed beforehand.

Soon, a whistle sounded from inside. This time, before the buddies on the wall shouted "kick off", the fans below raised their hands and chanted. The on-field and off-field were in perfect sync at this moment.

※※※ In this game, Eames did not arrange such tactics as defensive counterattacks, because the difference in strength between the two teams is not too far, he chose to attack on his home field, and it was still an extensive attack - long pass rushing. The success rate is not high, but it is very impactful.

To the dismay of the Wimbledon players, the game was still not broadcast live nationally. It looks like they're going to have to make it to the third round and then draw a Premier League team if they want to make a name for themselves.

With that belief, Wimbledon burst into a huge amount of energy at their home stadium, and the fans cheered for each of their attacks, singing and shouting incessantly to put psychological pressure on Hinkley United.

"Haha! It's nothing! Our fans have seen the Premier League before! Hinkley United? Their fans may never have been to League One in their lifetime! ”

Wimbledon fans, on the other hand, are more professional than Hinckley United fans. There is a saying about "experience" among players, and experienced players perform better on the field than inexperienced players. Experienced fans know how to make the most of their voices to cause trouble for their opponents, when to sing best in unison, and how to create the best home atmosphere. In terms of experience, the fans of Hinkley United are obviously not as good as the Wimbledon fans, not to mention that their team is now higher than Wimbledon, but just a year ago, the group of Wimbledon fans standing at the King's Ranch were still wearing the same jerseys and sitting at Shechhurst Park to watch the League One...... The shouts and chants of the Wimbledon fans helped the team a lot, and they greatly boosted the morale of the team, while at the same time causing some psychological pressure on the opponents.

In the forty-fifth minute of the game, as the first half was about to end, Hinkley United had a defensive mark that gave Borger a chance to cross. Cooper followed up in the middle and made a flying tackle that shoveled the ball out of the Hinkley United goalkeeper's armpit and into the back of the net.

At this moment, the audience was boiling!

In the tsunami-like cheers, the buddy sitting on the wall waved his hand vigorously and shouted wildly to the people outside the arena, but his voice was completely drowned out in the huge shouts.

There was no need for him to explain, everyone waiting on the sidelines knew what was going on.

With such a high decibel cheer, it must have been the home team Wimbledon who scored!

“yes！！”

"Goal!! It's ours! It was us who scored! ”

"Hooray! Wimbledon!! ”

"Great! That's great! It's amazing-!! ”

"Am I dreaming? Oh, my God...... Woo-woo-"

"I don't mind giving you a slap, man, haha!"

James. The people around Merry all hugged each other in an instant, laughing and screaming, and some even cried. Then he felt himself being hugged from behind.

"We're ahead!" The man howled behind him. "We're fucking ahead!!"

The entire neighborhood was filled with a voice at this moment: "Hooray!" Gang!! Banzai! Wimbledon!!! ”

Any fan who was still standing in the stands of the Kings Ranch at this time could clearly feel the ground trembling, as if the stands were about to collapse. But no one cared, they just jumped and stomped their feet, waved and cheered, for the lead of the team. There were also a lot of fans waving their fists on the walls around them, and there were even more of them outside where they couldn't see. Everyone was unleashing their excitement. At this time, the King's Ranch is like an active volcano that is erupting!

The cheers continued for several minutes before it subsided, and at halftime, the fans were still excitedly talking about the goal. Bolger's forced break and Cooper's unconventional shot both got them to talk about. It was the Hinkley United fans who sighed and complained of bad luck – the team was behind as the first half drew to a close.

"If I were Dean. Thomas (dean_thomas, head coach of Hinkley United), I'm going to be going to scold them in the dressing room! We couldn't find the rhythm of the game at all in the first half and were intimidated by the momentum of Wimbledon! We're four levels above them! Even if this is their home stadium, there can't be such a big difference! ”

Hinkley United fans complained at half-time. But they can only complain because no one is the head coach Dean. Thomas, and honestly they didn't support their team enough in the stands, and the Kings ranch was full of Wimbledon fans singing and shouting. They may have heard the legend of Prau Lane, which fifteen or sixteen years ago was called a stadium like hell, where Liverpool's players used to cry. Although the stadium has changed, the fans have not, and now they are honored to experience it for themselves.

'Our voices were so low that the players on the pitch couldn't hear them, they thought it was the Wimbledon fans cheering for the whole first half, but in fact we were shouting too. There are fans of Hinckley United who are also helpless about it.

Hinckley United fans complained from the stands, while Wimbledon fans gleefully discussed their team's prospects of potentially progressing to the third round in the Fat Boy café outside the stadium, beer in hand.

With Wimbledon choosing the Kings Ranch as their home turf, it was fitting that the café outside the stadium offered beer on home game days, so the café bought alcohol and became nondescript. But the business was so good that the owner of the café had cramps in his hands. The owner is already planning whether to change the "Fat Boy Cafe" to the "Fat Boy Bar".

James. Merry was among them, holding a glass of beer and listening to the fans around him.

'I think we should have scored another goal in the second half! A two-goal lead is safe! ”

"It's not so easy to score goals, let's defend solidly! Make sure you don't concede a goal, as long as you have the advantage of this goal, we will win! ”

"I've never been so nervous as I was today...... Well, I'll correct that. I felt like I was back in time on May 14, 1988, and do you know what that day was? FA Cup Final! We beat Liverpool and won the title! ”

'I don't miss the team that went to Milton Keynes Keynes at all, that's the team we support, that's the real Crazy Gang heirs!'

Fifteen minutes flew by amid the noise of fans on both sides, and after the second half restarted, the Wimbledon fans soon resounded over the Kings Ranch. It seems that although the Hinkley United fans realised at half-time that they did not support the team enough, they still did not come up with a good solution in the second half.

The Hinkley United players tried to fight back, and they launched a very fierce attack in the second half in the hope of breaking the door against Wimbledon.

Chu Zhongtian once again became one of the protagonists, taking the lead in the midfield while also finding time to organize his teammates to defend. When the players of Hinckley United found that the number 8 player in the east was very difficult to deal with, they changed their minds about the central rush and switched to the wing. But in any case, the attack always has to come back to the middle, the break on the wing is for the cross, where does the cross go? In front of the door. So Chu Zhongtian waited in front of the goal, competing with the opposing striker for the header. In terms of air dominance, he has a very obvious advantage, although he is not tall, he has excellent jumping, accurate judgment of the landing point of football, and clever positioning, which can also make the job of fighting for the top twice as much as half the effort.

Years of training, and God-given talent, Chu Zhongtian almost stood out in front of the goal, and many points of golf were hit by him.

※※※ "Alarm alarm! The opponent is about to cross when he breaks through! The buddy on the wall suddenly exclaimed.

The group of people below immediately held their breath and did not dare to say anything, but listened attentively, as if they could "see" everything that was happening inside by listening.

"Hey, it's Chu! It's Chu again! He headed out the opponent's cross! The buddy who called the police cheered again. The alarm is lifted, guys! Our goal is safe for the time being! ”

The people below followed him and shouted: "Chu! Clear! ”

This time James. Merry shouted along. It seemed that Chu Zhongtian was doing well, because he had heard his name more than once.

It's the first time I've seen a ball like this, but it's a lot of fun...... It's a pleasure that you can't afford to support a senior team – even if he doesn't have tickets for Arsenal, he can watch the game live on TV, instead of having to follow the 2,000 people outside the pitch and listen to the live broadcast from the wall.

※※※ In the second half, Hinkley United raced around Wimble's goal for 15 minutes, which was the most exciting 15 minutes for Hinckley United fans, who desperately cheered for their team from the stands in the hope of equalising.

But Wimbledon's dense defence was like a wall, keeping every shot out of the opposition. Until the very end, they didn't get any decent opportunities.

The fans outside the stadium were in an uproar again as the teammate on the wall sent the latest news: "Three minutes of stoppage time!" Guys, we're only three minutes away from the third round of the FA Cup!! ”

"Round three! Three minutes! Round 3! Three minutes!! A group of people shouted.

※※※ In stoppage time, Joe. Schilling's seemingly casual lob came close to finding the back of the net and the Hinkley United goalkeeper was embarrassed to drag the ball over the crossbar before Wimbledon was awarded a corner in the final minute of stoppage time.

They can drag on their time openly.

Hinkley United didn't have any Wimbledon players in front of goal at all, Bolger ran to take a corner, and Kevin Brown. Cooper followed, standing outside the corner flag area to pick it up. The rest of the Hinkley United rushed up to the fence and if they didn't get the ball down and start an attack sooner and let Wimbledon grind like that in the corner flag area, the game would be over.

The Wimbledon fans in the stands were already hugging each other and singing and dancing as they were less than a minute away from their historic FA Cup third round!

Hinkley United fans booed disgruntled against Wimbledon so blatantly dragging on time. However, their boos were soon drowned out by the cheers and singing of the Wimbledon fans.

Kevin. Cooper didn't break through or cross when he received a short corner kick from Bolger, but instead protected the ball in front of him and pouted his ass to keep the Hinkley United players out of the way, as long as they dragged it until the end of the game, they won, and there was no need to struggle to break through the shots.

The Hinkley United defender squeezed Cooper down from behind and cut off his ball. Borger raised his hand to signal to the referee that it was a foul, and neither the referee nor the linesman who was close by did not react. At this point, the general rules no longer worked, and the referee let go of the foul on Hinkley United from the point of view of encouraging attack.

There were some boos from the stands, this time from the Wimbledon fans. They thought the referee should have awarded a foul and awarded Wimbledon a free-kick in front of the club, and the win was completely lost.

Soon their boos died down, as the Hinkley United's attack ended here in Chu Zhongtian. He used a very vicious and merciless tackle to shovel the opponent out of the ball, and the referee did not award him a foul, but directly blew the whistle at the end of the game!

"We won! Round 3!! The Wimbledon fans, who had long been unable to contain their joy in the stands, screamed. Round 3!! Round 3!! ”

The fan sitting on the wall waved his arms and excitedly announced the end of the game, not paying attention to maintaining his balance and center of gravity, and fell headlong, but fortunately there was a large group of fans below him, and everyone reached out to catch him.

The buddy who almost fell and injured himself didn't have any sense of worrying about himself, and as soon as his feet hit the ground, he jumped up with a fist: "The game is over!" We're - fucking - winning! Round 3! Damn the third round, here we come! We're going to fuck out!! ”

All the fans gathered outside the stadium shouted after him: "Third round!! Here we go! The Crazy Gang is coming!! ”

James. Merry was completely conquered by this situation. Even in the stands of Highbury, he had never seen such a crazy crowd of fans...... Although this is only an amateur team in the ninth division, fans love it for both super and ninth divisions, professional and amateur, right?

No wonder that team can do miracles, no wonder Chu likes to play here...... ※※※ When the cheers inside and outside the field resounded in the sky, the Wimbledon players in the center of the stadium also flocked to hug each other, shouting: "Third round!" We're going to the third round!! Oh yes! ”

The third round of the FA Cup, which is the goal they have set for themselves, has finally been achieved, how can they not be surprised?

Eames and the rest of the coaching staff also rushed into the pitch and hugged the players. There were even people who lifted Eames up and threw it into the sky before catching it, and the team was able to reach the third round of the FA Cup in one season, thanks to which the legendary former Wimbledon defender was instrumental.

Everyone was excited, ten times more excited than they were to win the first round.

For a ninth-tier team like Wimbledon, what does the first and second rounds mean? The first round is the starting line, the second round is the semi-finals, and the third round is the final. Losing at the starting line and losing before the finish line are two different concepts entirely. If they were eliminated in the first round, then everyone would just feel sorry, but if they were eliminated in the second round, it would not be a pity, but a huge disappointment.

When they have nothing, they have nothing to fear, and when they expect more, they become less and less able to afford to fail.

Thankfully, now they don't have to suffer such heavy defeats. This fearless group has finally made it to "their final"!

(To be continued)