What article is correct to use in the following sntence? "the" or "a" or none

Question

What article should I use here?

"Scored 2 goals in the second half of his last game";

or "Scored 2 goals in a second half of his last game";

or without any? "Scored 2 goals in second half of his last game".

Answer 1

The first is correct:

Scored 2 goals in the second half of his last game

The reason is that we use the before superlatives (like most) and ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.).

a. The most-controlled therapy yielded the best results.
b. The first studies were conducted in early 1993.
c. The last security conference was termed a success,

—John M. Swales, Christine B. Feak: Academic Writing for Graduate Students

It is useful to learn the rules about superlatives and ordinals as a single rule because the -st ending applies to most superlatives and the ordinal number first.