Coventry Sphinx 0-1 Corby Town
Marcus Robinson
Coventry Sphinx put in a good shift in the hunt for a third consecutive win in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands but were ultimately unable to generate the chances required against a slick and solid Corby Town side.
The Steelmen had the better of the opportunities in front of goal but the only difference between the teams was a fortuitous goal on the hour that gave the visitors a 1-0 win.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas welcomed Joe Pursey back into the starting eleven and also gave a start to Sam Ellis.
Goalkeeper Keelan Fallows played behind a back three of James Bryson, Louis Guest and Will Edjenguele, with Pursey and Finlay Shorrock at wing back and Callum Whiteside shifting into midfield with Ellis and captain Callum Woodward.
Matty Shipman and Dylan Parker started up front, with Khaellem Bailey-Nicholls and Jac Redhead on the bench alongside the returning Luke Downes, midfielder Max Johnson and wide man Leigh Phillips.
The match got off to a spicy start and seldom eased off. Corby had most of the ball early on and Guest had to be on his game to lead the defence through a period of pressure in the first quarter of the match.
In the 25th minute Corby's Kalern Thomas was picked out by a raking pass into the right channel and took a sharp touch to get in behind Shorrock. Fallows stayed big to smother the chance.
Guest's unfortunate slip forced the goalkeeper into action again a few minutes later. This time Fallows had to make an excellent one-on-one save and Corby squandered the rebound because the Sphinx stopper had done well to push the parry wide.
Sphinx then started to have a say, using the surface more and resisting the panicked passing that blighted the first half hour.
Corby sent a curling shot just wide from 25 yards as they continued to give Guest and his team-mates plenty to think about at the back. The visitors played some neat football around the box but Sphinx stood up to it well.
Callum Milne fired over under pressure from Edjenguele after Sphinx partially cleared a corner, and after a couple of tidy attacks for the home team – both of which generated good openings but nothing in the way of shots on goal – Thomas caused them problems at the other end again.
His shot in stoppage time deflected just over the angle of Fallows' goal and away to safety to leave the game goalless at the break.
Sphinx’s managers acted decisively at half time, bringing Luke Downes and Johnson on for Whiteside and Ellis in an effort to get a foot on the ball and gain better control of the midfield. It worked – suddenly it was Corby who were unable to sustain possession in the attacking third and Sphinx who were better looking after it.
But, after a spell of end-to-end pandemonium, the Steelman produced the burst that would win them the match. An effort from just outside the penalty area dropped onto the roof of the net nine minutes into the half. Four minutes later Fallows made a tremendous save, low and at full stretch. From the resulting corner, Corby took the lead.
The ball was swung in deep from Corby’s left and found its way into the net through what appeared to be a combination of Guest’s back and a touch from Fallows, under pressure from Khristopher Oti as he attacked the far post. It was a horrible goal to concede but it was made by the venom in the delivery.
In the middle of the second half Sphinx were awarded a free kick wide on the right. Woodward sent in a dangerous ball of his own and found Shipman at the back post. He won the header but couldn’t keep the attempt under the crossbar.
Two minutes later Woodward was on the deck in front of the benches. Corby’s Danny Setchell inexplicably avoided a straight red card for the high, deliberate and dangerous studs-up lunge – it was too late to be called a tackle – that left the Sphinx captain to receive treatment for eight minutes (seven were added at the end of the match) and eventually leave the field on a stretcher. Woodward ended the day on crutches.
Now chasing the game with Bailey-Nicholls having replaced Woodward and joined the attack, Sphinx started to look a threat. Shorrock’s free kick in the 77th minute wasn’t far over but Wallis was untroubled.
Setchell was belatedly given his marching orders with ten minutes of normal time remaining, picking up a second yellow card for fouling Pursey on the edge of the penalty area. Sphinx’s players thought the foul had taken place in the box. The referee did not.
The home team built some pressure but the only real chance before the 90-minute mark was sliced wide by Oti under good pressure from Fallows. Sphinx almost had their moment in the 97th minute, when Pursey’s shot was blocked, but the vital opening never came.
Narrow defeats by unlucky goals are difficult to stomach but this was a maximum effort display from Sphinx against a Corby team who are better than their league position at kick-off suggested.
Wallis can point to a lack of saves as evidence that the Steelmen kept Sphinx at bay, but the late rally that created some openings against ten men was a threat and the visitors had to work hard for the win.
With Woodward expected to be sidelined, Sphinx have two more fixtures in October. On Saturday 14th they'll tackle an away game at Shepshed Dynamo, before returning to Sphinx Drive to face Coleshill Town a week later.
Sphinx team
Fallows, Bryson, Shorrock, Whiteside (L. Downes), Guest, Edjenguele, Pursey, Woodward (Bailey-Nicholls), Shipman, Ellis (Johnson), Parker. Unused subs: Phillips, Redhead