Everything unfolded just as Mourinho had predicted.
From the start of the second half, Reading launched another fierce assault on New Manchester United's defence.
Using their numerical advantage, they took complete control of possession and attacked the Red Rebels' half repeatedly.
The ten New Manchester United players shared the same thought.
No matter what it took, they would not allow Reading to score again.
With Kolo Touré, Abidal, and Terry forming a three-man central defence, Reading's two strikers were almost completely neutralised.
The greater danger came from the flanks.
Although Malouda and Hleb repeatedly dropped back as Mourinho had instructed, neither was a natural defender.
Even with Essien and the other midfielders constantly moving across to cover for them, Reading still managed to create several openings.
Fortunately, Čech remained remarkably composed.
He made save after save, denying several close-range efforts and repeatedly rescuing New Manchester United's defence.
His performance also gave the players in front of him greater confidence.
Mourinho sat beside Ethan in the stands, closely monitoring the match.
Whenever he spotted a problem, he contacted Faria through Ethan's phone, allowing his instructions to reach the team through Faria and Cassell.
After surviving a difficult opening ten minutes, Reading's attacking intensity began to drop slightly.
Mourinho, however, believed it was only a pause before another wave of pressure.
He therefore instructed Faria to make a substitution.
The exhausted Hleb was taken off and replaced by Bosingwa, restoring New Manchester United to a back four.
Malouda then moved forward to partner Drogba.
In truth, from the closing stages of the first half onward, Drogba had looked more like a defensive midfielder than a centre-forward.
He frequently appeared inside his own penalty area, especially when defending corners and free kicks.
As a result, Malouda had often been left alone in attack.
It made New Manchester United look as though they had abandoned any intention of scoring and planned only to defend until the final whistle.
Soon after Mourinho's change, Reading's manager made another substitution.
He removed a defender and brought on an additional striker, clearly determined to strengthen the attack and keep all three points at the Madejski Stadium.
New Manchester United responded with even greater determination.
The match had become completely one-sided, but neither set of supporters gave up hope.
Reading's fans urged their team forward, while New Manchester United's travelling support continued creating noise and booing every Reading attack.
Sitting in the stands, Ethan's eyelid kept twitching.
Every time Reading went forward, his heart pounded.
He believed every New Manchester United supporter in the stadium felt exactly the same.
The players on the pitch, however, showed no sign of panic.
Cassell repeatedly relayed Mourinho's latest instructions from the touchline, constantly reminding them to tighten their defensive shape.
Reading continued creating chances, but Čech was outstanding.
Throughout the second half, he denied at least four efforts that looked certain to become goals.
"I'm starting to believe you now, Boss," Mourinho said sincerely. "He really is a genius."
Čech's performance was astonishing.
What impressed Mourinho most was not only his shot-stopping, but also his composure and communication.
He constantly reminded the defenders in front of him about their positioning.
At first, his teammates had been slightly hesitant to listen to such a young goalkeeper.
After several successful interventions, however, they began trusting him completely and responded willingly to his instructions.
Because of Čech's outstanding performance and the team's stubborn defending, Reading remained unable to break through despite their numerical advantage and territorial dominance.
That gradually made Reading's players more frustrated.
Some began using rougher challenges in an attempt to provoke New Manchester United.
After Almunia's injury in the first half, the referee also appeared less willing to favour Reading as openly.
On several occasions when Reading committed clear fouls, he awarded decisions to New Manchester United.
However, in the 68th minute, Malouda beat the offside trap during a counterattack, only for the referee to incorrectly raise his whistle for offside.
A golden scoring opportunity was wasted.
Even Martin Tyler openly criticised the standard of officiating.
He believed the FA had made a serious mistake by assigning such a referee to an important professional fixture and bore unavoidable responsibility for what had happened.
As the minutes passed, Reading's attacking intensity gradually declined.
No team could sustain a high-tempo assault for the full 45 minutes.
At that moment, Mourinho decisively replaced the impressive Malouda with Olić.
The instant Olić entered the pitch, he displayed his endless energy.
He sprinted across the field, joined the defence, helped close gaps, and constantly watched for weaknesses in Reading's shape.
Unable to find a goal, Reading made another tactical adjustment.
They removed a defensive midfielder and introduced an attack-minded playmaker to control the tempo.
Mourinho immediately instructed De Rossi to push forward and press him closely, denying him space and preventing him from influencing the match.
Once De Rossi moved higher, Drogba and Olić also stepped forward and positioned themselves closer to Reading's defensive line.
With only one defensive midfielder remaining, Reading appeared to underestimate the danger posed by the two hardworking forwards.
From their perspective, they had already pinned New Manchester United back completely.
Their only concern was how to beat the Czech goalkeeper.
They no longer considered the possibility of a counterattack.
Even though Reading's manager repeatedly warned them from the touchline, the players could not change their mindset.
Their entire team had already pushed forward, and with their playmaker tightly marked, they had no effective way to slow the match down or reorganise.
On the surface, Reading still controlled the game and continued sending wave after wave of attacks toward New Manchester United's goal.
In reality, the Red Rebels' defence had become even more stable than it had been at the start of the half.
Reading were now creating almost no clear shooting opportunities.
The partnership between Terry and Kolo Touré was especially impressive.
Touré was not particularly tall, but he possessed an excellent leap, considerable strength, and outstanding pace and agility.
His performance at centre-back was impossible to ignore.
Watching Touré excel in the middle while Čech repeatedly pulled off important saves, Mourinho could not help looking at Ethan beside him with admiration.
It had been Ethan who decisively reminded him that Touré could also play as a centre-back.
It had also been Ethan who insisted on using the Special Talent Clause to sign Čech despite the criticism surrounding the decision.
Now both players had proved their ability beyond doubt.
Together, they had kept New Manchester United alive.
If the match ended in victory as Mourinho had planned, the greatest credit would not belong to Čech, despite his outstanding performance.
Nor would it belong to Touré, who had excelled both in the centre and on the right.
It would not even belong to Terry, who had led the team with such composure.
It would belong to the man sitting beside Mourinho.
Ethan.
...
Reading had attacked relentlessly for more than half an hour.
As the final minutes approached, they used their last substitution and committed everything forward in pursuit of victory.
New Manchester United's players refused to yield.
De Rossi played until both of his legs cramped.
Soon afterward, even the exceptionally fit Essien suffered the same problem.
Reading's supporters responded with furious boos, believing the Red Rebels were deliberately wasting time.
But New Manchester United's medical staff knew the truth.
The players had genuinely reached their physical limits.
As soon as De Rossi and Essien recovered, both men jumped several times to test their legs, confirmed they could continue, and immediately ran back onto the pitch.
It was precisely because of that refusal to surrender that Reading could not break through.
During the final few minutes, Reading pushed their entire defensive line almost to the halfway line and compressed the game into New Manchester United's half.
The supporters throughout the stadium barely dared to breathe.
Everyone watched nervously, fearing what might happen next.
Olić was breathing heavily, his tongue hanging out.
It was an old habit of his.
Some said it made him look like a dog, but it helped him recover his breath more quickly.
Players who breathed that way often seemed capable of running for longer.
Olić knew he was not a technically gifted player.
He also knew his natural talent was limited.
That was why he worked harder than almost anyone else.
Whenever he was given a chance to play, even if it was only for a few minutes, he ran with everything he had.
For now, his greatest weapon was his stamina.
On the training ground, he constantly increased his workload.
Knowing his technique was poor, he had approached Moniz and asked for help.
Moniz created a personal technical-development programme for him, requiring him to practise basic movements repeatedly.
The sessions were painfully dull.
They involved drills usually taught to children of eight or nine.
But Olić persevered.
He understood that if he wanted to improve, he had to begin with the fundamentals.
He was not Zidane.
He was not Ronaldo.
He could only make progress little by little through endless repetition.
Whenever the boredom became difficult to endure, he looked toward Drogba.
The powerful Ivorian was also working through basic exercises, and he was just as determined to continue.
The two would then tease each other.
Sometimes, several youngsters from the academy joined them as well.
Their technique was already excellent, and Olić could not help envying them.
He loved the atmosphere of everyone training together.
It made him feel comfortable and at home.
He did not want that feeling to disappear.
The best way to protect it was to help the team win.
So he kept sprinting back toward his own penalty area to defend, running from one end of the pitch to the other like a machine that never tired.
In the 88th minute, Olić spotted a moment of hesitation from a Reading player.
He burst forward from behind and stole the ball away.
It rolled toward Essien.
"Long ball, Michael!" Olić shouted before turning and sprinting forward.
Essien struck the ball immediately and with tremendous force, sending it slightly toward the right.
Olić accelerated like a racing car at full speed.
He ran past Reading's defensive midfielder.
Then he overtook one of their defenders.
Reading's goalkeeper judged the pace of the pass and Olić's run.
He saw no reason to leave his goal because he believed Olić could not possibly reach the ball.
But Olić never stopped.
He shook off the defender behind him and pushed himself to his absolute limit.
Gritting his teeth, he kept running.
Just before the ball crossed the byline, he reached it and brought it under control.
At that moment, whether or not he eventually scored no longer mattered.
New Manchester United's travelling supporters erupted into thunderous applause and cheers.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)