Edward the Football Star

Edward was a little black labrador who lived with his friend and owner, Toby.

Most of the time he was a very happy dog. He loved spending time with his owner, Toby. But that was part of the problem. He did spend a lot of time with him - when Toby's friends came round to play, Edward was there; when Toby went to the park, Edward always went along, and he met him after school to walk him home too.

But sometimes, and only sometimes, Edward didn't feel he was joining in quite enough. And today was one of those days...

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Toby had taken Edward to the park. They walked around the edge of the park, and Edward met some of his friends, Snowy, the little Scottish terrier, and Dougal, the Jack Russell, and he sniffed 'hello', as dogs tend to do.

And then Toby's friends appeared. Edward was told to sit and wait whilst Toby started to run around with his friends, kicking a ball.

A strange activity, Edward thought.

Edward knew this game though. it was called football. It was a game that Toby played every Saturday. At first, Edward had very much wanted to join in, and he would run into the middle of their game, grab the ball with his teeth and bring it to the boy who was standing at each of the goalposts.

But apparently, this wasn't quite how the game should be played.

So now, Edward had to sit by the sidelines and just watch the game. if he couldn't play properly, Toby had told him, he couldn't play at all.

And poor Edward was feeling very left out.

But this was quite a special game. Toby's friends were having a final game today to see which team was the best.

Edward watched, fascinated as Toby's friends made some great passes and tackles. He was really impressed by the clever footwork. He thought only dogs could be that good.

Toby, himself, had taken one good penalty kick. And now it was 1-1 with only 5 minutes left to play, and Toby's team had lost one player, as he had to go home early for tea.

The ball had just gone off-side, and the other team was taking a free kick. But Winnie, one of Toby's friends, got in there and took control of the ball. But with a great tackle, the other team won back the ball.

Edward couldn't stand it any longer. He leapt up and dashed onto the pitch before anyone could really tell what he was doing. Edward made a clever tackle, and he had the ball. He remembered that he wasn't allowed to pick the ball up, but he was rolling the ball between his little legs, and nudging it forward with his nose.

He just left the other players standing. he was now in good distance of the goal, and gave the ball a big nudge with his nose. Edward watched the ball as it bounced off the goal post and then bounced back into the goal.

Hurrah! He'd scored!

Toby ran up to him, shouting, "You scored! You scored!"

The other team really weren't sure about this. A dog playing football? But after all, Toby's team had been one player down, and Edward had simply taken his place.

They decided to let him have the game after all.

And Edward felt that he was the star player - and he was!

Toby vowed that Edward would always be their lucky mascot and be known as the dog who won the day!
Edward - the footballing hero!
 

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