Coventry Sphinx 1-1 Gresley Rovers
Stuart Guest
Coventry Sphinx and Gresley Rovers shared the points with a repeat of their reverse result early in the 2023/23 Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands season. Both teams came away disappointed with a draw but 1-1 was ultimately a fair outcome from a feisty affair at the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena nine days before Christmas.
Sphinx joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas were without Will Edjenguele, so Louis Guest was joined by Callum Whiteside at centre back in front of goalkeeper Keelan Fallows. Joe Pursey and Finlay Shorrock continued in the full back positions.
An unchanged midfield saw Jack Downes and Callum Woodward anchor Jac Redhead, while Jamal Adams was given a first start wide of striker Matty Shipman. Jordan Hayward kept his place on the opposite flank.
The physical tone of the game was set from the early minutes and Sphinx made a good start. Their shape was effective out of possession and their use of the ball was aggressive. Hayward was a useful outlet in the first quarter as Gresley started to come into the match.
There was little in the way of goalmouth action in the first 20 minutes. Gresley were the first to mount some consistent attacks after successfully pushing the hosts back in the middle of the first half.
John King fired in the first shot in anger, flashing his effort across the Sphinx goal and just beyond the frame from a tight angle on the right. Fallows would argue he had the shot well covered.
The match came to life ten minutes before half time and Sphinx might have had a lead. Callum Woodward’s clipped pass into the left channel deceived Harvey Woodward in the Gresley goal, who found Shipman nipping in front of him to head the ball out of his reach as he came to the corner of the box.
Shipman kept the ball in play on the byline and played it across for Redhead, whose shot gave the recovering Moatmen stopper enough of a chance to keep it out.
He did the same again in the 40th minute when Redhead turned provider and threaded a brilliant through ball for Hayward, who went clear on goal but was denied by a solid piece of goalkeeping when the goal seemed the likelier result.
The home team paid the price for not taking their two golden chances. Gresley progressed the ball forward quickly in the aftermath of Woodward’s second save and manoeuvred a clear chance for Nathan Banton.
Banton neatly lifted the finish beyond the grasp of goalkeeper Fallows into the net, leaving Sphinx to chase an equaliser as Gresley had to do in the reverse fixture in August.
Guest's glancing header from one Woodward didn't test another and Sphinx headed in at half time with work to do and a goal to find before the game got away from them.
They didn't wait long. With Adams and Hayward switching wings at the break the hosts started the second half well and quickly levelled the scores. Redhead was instrumental. The creative midfielder's clever footwork kept Gresley penned in and generated a yard of space for himself outside the box.
He picked a lovely pass for Shipman, who showed good strength as he turned in the penalty area and cracked a powerful left-footed shot into the corner for the second consecutive Saturday.
Sphinx enjoyed a brief spell of dominance – enabled by more patient play and keeping the ball on the ground – but Gresley weren't for turning over. The visitors went back to basics and played safe as Sphinx edged a full-blooded encounter.
Fallows watched a speculative curling shot sail wide and over in the middle of the second half, by which time Sphinx's play was much improved but no more dangerous than Gresley's.
Luke Downes, on as a late substitute for his captain, sent a shot wide in stoppage time but noteworthy chances were otherwise limited at both ends of the field as the inevitability of a second 1-1 draw between these two teams became clear.
Both sides will look back on this game with some regret. Gresley were pegged back after taking the lead and a case can be made that they kept Harvey Woodward largely untroubled after the equalising goal from the home team.
Sphinx will rue missed opportunities to create rather than actual chances, but their long stretches of improved possession in the second half should have yielded more.
For the second week in a row the supporters of Sphinx's opponents subjected the match officials to the kind of abuse that suggests the result was in some way unjust. Against Cambridge City, Sphinx huffed and puffed for just about long enough to punish the Lilywhites for putting themselves at a disadvantage.
Against Gresley, neither side did enough in the attacking third to warrant much more than they got and the strategy of intimidating the officials went unrewarded.
Sphinx team
Fallows, Pursey, Shorrock, J. Downes, Guest, Whiteside, Adams (Bailey-Nicholls), Woodward (L. Downes), Shipman, Redhead, Hayward (Lock). Unused sub: Bryson