Coventry Sphinx 2-3 Nuneaton Borough
Stuart Guest
Nuneaton Borough came to the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena with their access to their home ground revoked and their future in some doubt. After playing their previous home league game at Stratford Town, two cup ties away from Liberty Way gave them a much needed stay of execution.
The first of those was at Sphinx and was played in Coventry despite originally being drawn as a home tie for the Boro. Understandably, given the visitors’ announcement that their cameo at Stratford might be their last game, theirs was the story that dominated the build-up to this Birmingham Senior Cup Second Round clash.
Nevertheless, Nuneaton arrived in good shape on the pitch as a higher division opponent for Sphinx, and were able to name a strong starting eleven to see them to a 3-2 win and a place in the next round.
Despite the loss, it was a Sphinx performance deserving of the plaudits that followed. They equalised twice in a thrilling match and can look back on 90 minutes in which they were beaten purely by some clinical finishing against the run of play.
Sphinx joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas brought Jamie Draper into the starting line-up and Callum Martin onto the bench after long injury lay-offs.
Louis Guest and Jac Redhead dropped to the bench to make way for Draper and Gio Dainty. Draper was joined at the back by Joe Pursey, Callum Whiteside and Finlay Shorrock in front of goalkeeper Keelan Fallows.
Luke Downes captained the side from midfield with Jack Downes, Alex Lock and Dainty. Matty Shipman and Dylan Parker started in attack.
Nuneaton started quickly and Fallows had to make a pair of early saves, first from a free kick and then from Leroy Lita after good interplay and sharp movement to get into a dangerous position in the box.
Sphinx didn't look second best, however, and did plenty of attacking of their own and moved the ball nicely in the early knockings.
Lita was unable to take a very presentable chance in the 13th minute and Sphinx, gradually, started to dominate possession, albeit without giving the Boro goalkeeper much to worry about.
At the other end the Sphinx defence had to produce an important block to deny the already influential Owen Oseni.
The home team enjoyed a spell of pressure in the middle of the half. Lock exchanged passes with Shipman but saw his shot blocked. Parker lofted the corner to the back post, where Shipman's header beat Finley Osborn but was cleared off the line.
Sphinx looked good on the ball but the visitors were able to probe and carry a threat. After Boro defender Elwalid Elhaghany sliced a clearance just wide of goal, Sphinx pushed for an opener from a succession of corners.
Parker took the first and Osborn punched it clear just as it clipped the crossbar. Two more corners followed and Whiteside appeared to be fouled in the box at both of them. The second thumped the bar as it swung in from Parker.
Nuneaton were always likely to show their quality and they took the lead just after the half hour. A deep cross from the right found Matt Stenson, whose looping header back across goal dropped into the far corner to make it 1-0.
Sphinx's pressing in the Boro's defensive third was tremendous and paid off before the break. Osborn had to make a decent save from Jack Downes before the home team equalised in the final minute of the first half.
Parker's whipped free kick towards Osborn's bottom corner appeared to be on target but saveable before Lita swung a boot at it to divert the ball above the goalkeeper's grasp and in.
There were goals aplenty in the second half and Nuneaton grabbed the first of them despite Sphinx being on top and both Shipman and Lock forcing saves from Osborn in the Boro goal.
Six minutes into the half Lita tucked in from close range to make it 2-1 to the visitors with a clinical finish that was very much against the run of play.
If there was any concern that Nuneaton's second goal would take the wind out of Sphinx's sails, the home team's press banished it by yielding a goal almost immediately. The lively Dainty pinched the ball to capitalise on a short pass, took it beyond Osborn and tapped it into the empty net for 2-2.
Sphinx welcomed Martin and Jordan Hayward back from injury off the bench and continued to look lethal going forward with the game on a knife edge. Nuneaton squandered a chance before great work from Parker teed up Shipman to shoot over with 20 minutes left.
Alfonso Castellano made a belated Sphinx debut as a substitute and made his mark on what proved an excellent team performance. The home team produced a number of half chances as they took almost total control of the game late on.
In the end it came down to two chances as penalties loomed. Another Shipman header from a Parker corner was scrambled away by the Boro defence and Sphinx weren't able to do the same four minutes from time.
A long free kick was headed back across goal and Lita was on hand at the back post to nudge in the winning goal. Proven finishers are proven finishers.
Honourable defeat isn't a sustainable route to success but taken in small doses it's no bad thing. Sphinx took on a team performing at a higher level and fired up by circumstance and not only matched them but bettered them in all departments apart from one.
But putting the ball in the net is the name of the game and Lita has made a living off it. It showed when the Boro made their crucial chances; Lita and Stenson were clinical when it counted.
Sphinx can be encouraged as they move back into league action. Their next two opponents were the top two in the United Counties League Premier Division South in the season before Sphinx won it.
Hinckley LR visit Sphinx Drive on Saturday 18th November before the boys in sky blue and white head over to Leicestershire to take on Harborough Town on the following Tuesday.
As tests of confidence and momentum go for Sphinx as a newly minted Step Four team, we couldn't ask for much tougher than these two in close proximity.
Sphinx team
Fallows, Pursey, Shorrock (Martin), L. Downes, Whiteside, Draper, Parker, J. Downes, Shipman, Lock (Hayward), Dainty (Castellano). Unused subs: Guest, Redhead