Chapter 65: Defeating Every Enemy in Front of Us

"This past week, I think you’ve all seen what’s been written about you." In the away dressing room, Villa’s players finished their warm-up as Saint addressed them.

"We’re currently sixth, two points off fourth. The Premier League might still feel a long way off, but we’ve genuinely put ourselves within reach of it."

The moment Saint said "Premier League," something visible shifted across the room, most of the players couldn’t fully hide the longing in their expressions. England’s top flight carries a weight unlike anywhere else in the world, and every man in this room knew it.

"Promotion. The chance is right there in front of us... why wouldn’t we go for it, together? We could be playing in the best league on earth, against the biggest clubs in the country, against the teams we grew up watching. Even if it doesn’t work out in the end, there’s no version of chasing this we’d regret."

"Lads... I believe in myself. I believe in what I’ve seen from this squad. And I genuinely believe that if we work for it properly, we finish this season inside those top four places."

"So... your turn. Do you believe it too?" Saint scanned the room slowly as he asked it.

"YES!" The answer came back as one voice, no hesitation in it whatsoever.

What did the Premier League actually represent to a room full of Championship footballers? More eyes on them. Bigger reputations. Considerably bigger paychecks. A genuine shot at catching a top club’s attention.

What does any professional footballer actually chase, deep down? Not much beyond exactly that.

"Right. Then we’re all on the same page. Get out there and beat what’s in front of you today. You only earn the right to play in that league by beating every single opponent standing between here and there."

The players filed out of the tunnel and onto the pitch.

"Villa look genuinely dangerous today, real intent in their body language. Coventry could be in real trouble here." Curtis, as ever, delivered it with his usual warmth.

"Not a single word out of this man’s mouth means anything," Casapa cut in immediately, fully committed to his usual role.

Curtis, having spent two months as Saint’s most reliable public defender, didn’t let that pass without pushing back.

While the two of them went at it again, the match itself had already begun; and Curtis’s read, for once, undersold it. Coventry were in serious trouble almost immediately.

Second minute, and Villa had already broken the deadlock. Coventry had kicked off, but the moment their attack broke down in Villa’s half, Conlan won it back with a diving tackle.

Of every player in that dressing room, Conlan carried perhaps the most personal motivation for reaching the Premier League, a chance to prove something to the club that had let him go years earlier.

The ball reached Whitfield, and the two had built enough chemistry over these past weeks that the connection barely needed a thought. The moment Conlan won it, Whitfield was already moving to collect it.

A long pass, first time, no hesitation; the ball sailed straight to the edge of Coventry’s box, where Delgado dragged a defender out of position before laying it off to Okoro.

Okoro drew another defender’s attention before switching it diagonally. Rocher collected it wide, cut inside into the box, and struck it hard; only for Coventry’s goalkeeper, Danny Rourke, to get across and parry it away.

Rourke’s save wasn’t especially spectacular, if the truth were told, Rocher’s shot lacked both real pace and a clean angle, an uncharacteristically poor finish given the buildup that preceded it.

Compared to some of his earlier moments this season, that effort was genuinely underwhelming. Not that one poor shot meant much on its own.

Villa pressed straight back into Coventry’s half moments later, forcing another chance, this time it wasn’t Rocher pulling the trigger.

Lavelle, after cutting in from the flank, combined with Delgado in a slick one-two before getting his own shot away, unfortunately dragged just wide of the far post.

Eighth minute, and Coventry drew level; a header from their striker, Marcus Amaro, nicknamed "Iron Wall" for a physical, imposing style that had briefly made him one of the division’s most talked-about forwards.

Amaro had built a real reputation off a genuinely blistering run of form the previous season, the kind of purple patch that gets a player’s name in every scouting report in the country. What had followed since had looked considerably more ordinary by comparison.

Across this campaign, in fact, Amaro had managed just two league goals in roughly half the season’s fixtures so far; a striker whose ceiling, by Saint’s own reading through Scout’s Eye, remained genuinely high, but whose consistency had never quite caught up to it.

Today, though, Amaro looked every bit the player his early reputation promised. Thirteenth minute, and Coventry took the lead off the back of his best moment of the match.

A Coventry winger’s cross was initially cut out by Rami, conceding a corner in the process. From the resulting set piece, the same winger delivered again, this time picking Amaro out perfectly.

Amaro rose to meet it, and in the aerial duel that followed, out-muscled Loach completely, genuinely good physical conditioning holding up against one of Villa’s most reliable defenders, and the header found the net with real power behind it.

"Good grief... Coventry have actually taken the lead here." Another reminder, if one was needed, that the stronger side on paper doesn’t automatically win the afternoon.

Coventry’s own bench erupted immediately, whatever restraint the game’s unwritten codes usually demanded, Amaro’s goal blew straight through it.

While Coventry’s manager celebrated, most eyes drifted instead toward the far touchline, because since taking this job, nobody had once seen Saint’s Villa concede first and look this unbothered about it.

And that’s exactly what the cameras found, no visible frustration, no urgency in his posture. If anything, something close to a small, knowing smile.

"What’s he actually thinking? Genuinely, going behind and looking that relaxed about it, is that confidence, or is he just not paying attention?" More than one person watching, Coventry’s own celebrating manager included, found themselves asking the same question.

On the pitch, Villa’s players glanced toward the touchline too, a flicker of genuine uncertainty crossing more than one face.

That uncertainty didn’t last long, though; because what they found on Saint’s face, unmistakably, was trust. He hadn’t said a word, hadn’t gestured, hadn’t even changed his posture. And for this squad, that silence had come to mean more than any shouted instruction ever could.

"Saint Maddox’s arrogance has finally cost this Villa side something today," Casapa said, seizing the opening immediately.

"Disagree entirely... what you’re reading as arrogance is trust. He believes in this squad, and that belief is exactly why this team keeps performing," Curtis shot back, and the two settled back into their now-familiar rhythm of disagreement.