Cogenhoe United 3-4 Coventry Sphinx
Stuart Guest
Saturday 26th November 2022 won’t be forgotten in a hurry in the Uhlsport United Counties League Premier Division South. One match was abandoned late because of an injury but the other eight produced a mammoth return of 41 goals and included 0-7 and a 7-5.
Coventry Sphinx started the day in second place and their 4-3 win at Cogenhoe United was almost normal by comparison, but undoubtedly memorable for its own reasons. Sphinx were 2-0 down at half time and had to overcome both that and the disappointment of conceding a third after getting back to level pegging. Louis Guest’s late winning goal will live long in the memory.
Guest was joined by Callum Whiteside and James Bryson at centre back in front of goalkeeper Scott Martin, while a shuffled wing back unit brought Callum Martin in on the left and relocated Jordan Hayward to the right.
Jack Downes and captain Callum Woodward played in midfield behind Callum Stewart, and there was a league start up front for Dylan Parker, who partnered Matty Shipman. The strikers scored the other three goals between them on a dramatic afternoon outside Northampton.
Sphinx weren’t at their best to begin with but shaded the first quarter of the match. Martin had to make a simple save in the second minute but the away team had the advantage in terms of possession and attacking play as the game developed.
Parker skillfully created a chance for himself on the edge of the box after six minutes, just cutting across his left-footed volley slightly to send it wide of Ashley Bodycote’s goal. In the 14th minute Woodward’s corner was met by Guest, whose header was blocked by a Cogenhoe player for another corner that came to nothing.
The home team came close to a lead from a corner of their own. Having caught the wind, it sailed towards goal and came back off the crossbar. In the aftermath, Cogenhoe briefly appealed for a penalty but their protests were soon forgotten.
There was no doubt that they’d come into the game. With the exception of a fine Sphinx move in the middle of the first half that led to a Woodward shot that Bodycote was able to field with ease, Cogenhoe enjoyed a fine spell that would extend as far as half time as the visitors became too ragged on the ball.
Nevertheless, the next two opportunities fell to Sphinx and Shipman was the man in the spotlight for both. First, his curling effort took a deflection and went wide of the post. Then, a few minutes later, a fabulous Callum Martin cross – and not for the first time in this match – found the striker. His header had plenty of power but was cleanly saved by Bodycote.
Sphinx wasted an opportunity at one end in the 39th minute and a quick break led to a Cogenhoe opener at the other. Pharrell Anderson’s run did the damage and Will Bates fired a nicely struck finish past goalkeeper Martin and into the bottom corner.
Two minutes later the Cooks doubled their lead. Anderson was the scorer this time, meeting a pinpoint pass in behind from Josh Adams and spotting Martin off his line to lob him from the edge of the penalty area.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas wasted no time in making changes at the break, bringing Jamie Draper, Loz Rawlings and Max Johnson onto the field as Sphinx sought a way back into the game with the wind now at their backs. It had the desired effect.
Substitute Johnson played a crucial role in the first Sphinx goal ten minutes into the second half. Though improved, Sphinx had until then struggled to find their moment. Johnson collected the ball from Bryson, played a one-two with Stewart and then angled a perfect pass into the right channel for Parker.
The forward stepped inside and took his shot early, benefiting from a nick off a defender that took Bodycote out of the equation and diverted the ball into the net to get the visitors back within a goal.
Seconds later they were hunting for more. Parker went through again, more centrally this time, and Bodycote was out to meet him and make an important block.
Just before the hour, Thomas and Woodward’s team thought they were level. Johnson’s free kick found Stewart, who tucked the ball in from a few yards out. The assistant referee raised his flag. Not everybody agreed.
Sphinx only had to wait two more minutes for the equaliser that stood. Stewart was on his toes in midfield and pinched the ball twenty yards inside his own half before racing off down the left wing. He hit the byline, kept his composure and cut back in and out again to slip a pass across goal for Shipman, who swept home from close range for 2-2.
In the 65th minute came the moment that might have knocked a less gutsy team out of their stride. Sphinx had been imperious in fighting their way back to parity and it could all have been undone by the suckerpunch that put Cogenhoe 3-2 up.
A free kick from a deep position caused Sphinx a problem at the back and when the ball dropped Cogenhoe’s way and Bates was teed up outside the box, his second goal of the game was a thumping finish that gave Martin no chance as it found the top corner.
But this was an extraordinary half in an incredible game of football, and Sphinx were level again in half the time it took them to fall back behind.
A short corner routine on the left didn’t go to plan but Sphinx kept the ball alive thanks to Johnson and Rawlings, the latter stretching to prevent a goal kick and getting a touch of good fortune to have an attempted cross blocked right back to him.
Rawlings recycled it to Woodward near the corner of the box and the Sphinx skipper whipped a superb cross in towards the back post. Shipman was there to slide in and claim his second of the match. The visitors were back on even terms and Cogenhoe, finally, seemed to suffer from the gut punch.
Chances came and went and it’s a testament to this Sphinx team that no amount of misfortune or doubt affected their determination.
A free kick with quarter of an hour remaining eventually landed at the feet of Stewart, who almost squeezed it in but saw his effort deflected wide by a last-ditch block. Johnson’s left-footed shot from the edge of the box was dragged wide. Guest got free at the back post from a corner but couldn’t adjust in time to get a shot away.
But they just kept going and, sure enough, their winning goal arrived. Shipman found himself half a yard of space at the back post and managed to hit the target despite stretching for it and being unbalanced. Bodycote denied him with an exceptional save but he did so at the expense of a corner.
Woodward’s set pieces have been a rich source of goals for Sphinx over the years and there was no more fitting way to win this match, and win it they did with three minutes remaining.
The captain clipped an out-swinger from the right. Bodycote palmed it away past the reach of Shipman but into the path of substitute Leo Stone, who timed his arrival well and drilled one left-footed towards a crowded goal line.
Where Stone’s strike was unable to go through, Guest opted for the aerial route. The rebound bounced kindly for him and he got his knee over the ball to smash a terrific volley over the traffic, under the crossbar and into the roof of the net. Cue pandemonium.
After a remarkable amount of stoppage time Sphinx were able to celebrate properly. It should go without saying that their second half performance in this match was incredibly impressive. Conceding so heavily is out of character but having the wherewithal to dig themselves out of trouble certainly isn’t.
At 2-0, even at 3-2, the belief in the players both from within and from the supporters was palpable. They simply don’t know when they’re beaten and neither do we. Nevertheless, to turn no points into three in such difficult circumstances is a mark of the team and the management staff.
We’ll be talking about this one for years.
Sphinx team
S. Martin, Whiteside (Draper), C. Martin, J. Downes (Johnson), Guest, Bryson, Hayward (Rawlings), Woodward, Shipman, Stewart, Parker (Stone). Unused sub: Kennedy