Chapter 57: Letting Everyone Down Again

"Shot! Bogdanov’s really lively since coming on." Five minutes in, and the young Bulgarian had already forced two efforts on goal.

Reading, freed by that substitution, finally let go entirely... throwing everything forward in a desperate push at Villa’s goal.

Villa, in response, dropped almost the entire squad into their own half, Okoro alone stayed forward, holding the line as the only outlet in Reading’s territory.

Reading’s first real shot of that spell came from Chevington, Reading’s most reliable finisher had naturally seen more chances than anyone else through the match.

When Chevington’s effort came to nothing, Bogdanov, still finding his feet at senior level, took it upon himself to shoulder the burden alone, two shots in quick succession.

Bogdanov’s talent was obvious to anyone watching, and part of what made him so highly rated was the sheer self-belief that came with it, a genuine willingness to take responsibility rather than shrink from it.

That same self-belief cut both ways, though. Confidence unchecked has a way of curdling into recklessness, and in Bogdanov’s case, in another life, that was exactly what happened, the raw talent never translating into the career it should have, eventually fading out of Europe entirely.

Right now, though, none of that had happened yet. This version of Bogdanov was still the electric prospect everyone in the game was talking about, and he was doing everything he could to drag Reading back into this match.

Seventy-first minute, and Bogdanov produced his most dangerous effort yet, a shot arrowing straight for the top corner.

The buildup had been genuinely excellent: Ledbury found Tonet, who switched play diagonally to Vukic. Vukic took it down and drove at Villa’s box, drawing Loach and Rami’s attention as Chevington made a run to occupy them further.

Bogdanov, meanwhile, had drifted quietly toward Chevington’s run early, then, sensing the defenders’ focus shift entirely toward Chevington, peeled off cleverly into completely unmarked space.

That drift left him with an enormous pocket of room. Vukic spotted it immediately and slipped the ball across. Bogdanov, unmarked, took one touch to set himself and struck it cleanly toward the far corner. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Big effort from the edge of the box... Bogdanov, straight for the top corner... this is genuinely dangerous!" Curtis’s voice climbed with real tension, and up in the away end, Villa’s supporters held their breath collectively.

’Thud.’ A satisfying sound for Villa. A sickening one for Reading.

"Off the frame! Bogdanov’s effort cannons back off the crossbar!" The ball had struck the woodwork with agonizing precision, deflecting away rather than in.

"Pentland! Straight onto the loose ball, gathers it clean before Reading can react!" Relief flooded through Villa’s ranks, and their confidence surged right along with it.

Reading, in stark contrast, had thrown everything at that chance and come away with nothing to show for it, the kind of miss that visibly deflates a side.

Villa punished it instantly. The moment Bogdanov’s effort came to nothing, Villa reclaimed possession and moved with real purpose to put this match away for good.

Seventy-third minute, barely two minutes after that near-miss, and Villa’s third goal arrived through the same kind of clinical build-up that had defined this entire performance.

Loach carried the ball forward himself, with Conlan and Whitfield both sprinting into Reading’s half, Bogdanov’s introduction had genuinely weakened Reading’s defensive structure, and Villa exploited it immediately.

Stopping a double run from Conlan and Whitfield simultaneously required real defensive discipline elsewhere on the pitch, exactly the kind of coverage Reading’s earlier substitution had compromised.

Loach found Lavelle, and the moment Lavelle took possession, Reading’s defenders were forced to retreat immediately, drawn in just enough before Lavelle released it.

Conlan collected it and drove forward, one touch, two, three, dragging two defenders with him deep into Reading’s half.

A quick backheel, then a genuinely clever through-ball, the pass found Whitfield, who didn’t need a second touch, simply rolling it into the box for the run he already knew was coming.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! 3–0! Villa put this game beyond any doubt!"

"Okoro! Whitfield’s pass finds him perfectly, barely a finish required, the simplest goal of the afternoon."

"Five games, and Okoro’s already matched close to a season’s worth of output from earlier this year." Curtis wasn’t exaggerating.

Before this run started, Okoro had managed just four league goals across the entire first half of the season. Under Saint’s system, he’d scored three in five matches alone.

It wasn’t only Okoro transformed, either. From Loach’s steadiness at the back through Conlan and Whitfield’s midfield partnership to the frontline pairing of Delgado and Okoro, this entire group looked like a completely different squad from the one Ventham had left behind.

And that was without even counting Saint’s own personal project, Rocher and Lavelle had both proven themselves genuinely excellent through this whole run, and while both still had the natural ups and downs of any young player finding their feet, neither had done anything to undermine the faith placed in them.

This match had also given Rami his moment to properly announce himself. Villa hadn’t conceded all afternoon, and a huge share of the credit belonged to a seventeen-year-old holding together a Championship back line under real pressure.

Substitution after substitution; Ross, three goals down, had nothing left to lose, and threw two more attacking changes forward in quick succession.

Those changes did produce something, eventually, a consolation goal deep into stoppage time from a substitute striker, restoring a little pride if nothing else.

4–1, the final scoreline. Before that late Reading goal, Villa had already made it four, Delgado, on from the bench, scoring Villa’s final goal after a clever pass from Rocher, rising to head it home in the box.

Another emphatic scoreline. Not quite the 5–1 demolition of Wednesday, but this win carried arguably more weight... a genuine promotion contender, comprehensively beaten, and Villa’s own case for a serious end-of-season push growing stronger by the week.

In his post-match interview, Saint gave the assembled press exactly what they’d all learned to expect by now... something they still hadn’t figured out how to handle.

"Sorry, everyone... I’ve let you all down again." Saint’s expression stayed perfectly sincere throughout. But the look in his eyes, and the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth, told an entirely different story.