Take a deep breath and oppress play despite not knowing the score (5-4)

'score' is the definition.
I know that 'score' relates to this answer. I also know that both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form

'take a deep breath and oppress play despite not knowing the' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'take' could be 'read' (synonyms) and 'read' is found within the answer.
'breath' could be 'sigh' (I have seen 'Deep breath' mean 'sigh' so perhaps 'breath' could also mean 'sigh') and 'sigh' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?