Eynesbury Rovers 1-8 Coventry Sphinx
Chris Nee
If improving on last season’s corresponding fixtures is a measure of progress then Coventry Sphinx’s start to the 2022/23 campaign warrants attention. Beating Godmanchester Rovers at home put Shaun Thomas and John Woodward’s men three points up over last season, and this away game against Eynesbury Rovers added a couple more.
Better yet, Sphinx went to the location of their only goalless draw of 2021/22 and scored eight times, four in each half, to record a thumping 8-1 win in the first of two Bank Holiday fixtures in three days.
Callum Stewart was a hat-trick specialist last season and acquired another for his collection in this match after Leo Stone followed up his first home goal in a Sphinx shirt with his first two away from home.
Mason Platts scored his first for the club to cap off the win after an own goal had made it 7-1, but it was a fine finish by a player making his debut that set Sphinx on their way. Jordan Hayward took just seven minutes to get off the mark.
Hayward started life in sky blue and white in the right wing back position, while Callum Martin continued on the left. Louis Guest returned to the centre of defence after suspension, flanked as ever by Jamie Draper and James Bryson, with Scott Martin in goal.
Stewart and Matty Shipman started up front with Stone behind them at the foremost point of a creative midfield trio. Luke Downes kept his place after a high quality appearance off the bench two weeks earlier, and skipper Callum Woodward played alongside him on the ground where he got injured last season.
Sphinx settled immediately and got their noses in front through Hayward’s debut goal. Stewart raced on to a long pass forward and faced up a defender before playing the ball to Stone and receiving a superb wall pass. His first-time cross found Hayward in the clear and his finish was as clean as the move that came before it.
The visitors started with urgency all over the pitch. Their attacking players were getting on the ball and the midfield were picking off Eynesbury passes frequently. Eynesbury went over with a speculative attempt in the tenth minute but the first half was all Sphinx.
They should have made it 2-0 when a short corner resulted in Stewart crossing again. The goalkeeper got under the flight of the ball and Bryson was behind him but could only head over from close range. Stewart was the supplier again a minute later, cutting inside from the right and laying the ball off for Stone. His shot went over the Eynesbury crossbar.
In the 26th minute Sphinx might have had a penalty. Hayward’s ankles were clipped as he prepared to shoot. The foul prevented him from doing so but the referee either missed it or decided that the ball ending up slightly behind a Sphinx player under pressure from more than one defender constituted an advantage.
Sphinx doubled their lead three minutes later, after Eynesbury had put together their first real spell of possession and then given the ball back to the visitors.
Woodward cleverly scooped the ball into the left channel for Shipman, who passed it across the face of goal with his left foot. It was placed perfectly for Stewart but he couldn’t connect. Stone, arriving late into the box and not for the first or last time in a tremendous performance, followed up to tuck in his second goal in as many games.
Stone combined brilliantly with the strikers and the wing backs, making Sphinx a potent attacking force. Stewart was the next to go close, skipping past the goalkeeper but thwarted by a block that took the ball into the Eynesbury stopper’s arms.
Scott Martin then made a comfortable save from Eynesbury’s first serious shot on goal before Woodward fired over with a left-footed shot in the 37th minute. Sphinx made it 3-0 in the 39th.
Shipman won the header from a deep Woodward free kick and Guest kept it alive beyond the back post, diverting it back into the path of Stone. His arrival and finish were just as effective as his first goal and Sphinx were now completely in charge.
Four minutes later, Woodward delivered another dangerous ball into the Eynesbury box and Shipman got up well to head it into the path of Stewart. The prolific forward snuck in behind the home team’s defensive line to nudge in his first goal of the afternoon and make it 4-0.
Martin had one more comfortable save to make but Sphinx reached half time with a four-goal lead, just reward for their effort and intensity from kick-off. Draper, booked in the first half, was replaced by Danny Fraser at the break.
Sphinx were able to get in behind Eynesbury without much difficulty, both out wide and more centrally, and it was immediately clear there were more goals up for grabs in the second half. Woodward’s shot was blocked early in the half but 5-0 wasn’t far away.
In the 56th minute Sphinx won the ball back in midfield and found Stewart, who passed to Shipman and ran past him for a return pass. Shipman didn’t get on the scoresheet but he made three goals and was instrumental in more, and his slotted ball for Stewart did the heavy lifting for goal number five. Stewart finished comfortably.
Three minutes later Sphinx were defending a corner and a flick on took it past the far post, where Stone collected it and got his head up. He played a terrific reverse pass into the centre circle, where Stewart was waiting. Stewart held off two defenders before leaving them in his dust and rolling the ball home with his left foot to complete his hat-trick.
Sphinx’s sixth was near the top of the list of goals in terms of quality play, and gave Woodward and Thomas the opportunity to look to the bench with one eye on another fixture two days later. With the visitors making changes, Eynesbury found some momentum.
Scott Martin showed good positioning and tidy handling in the 66th minute and made a cracking diving save in the 67th, only to be beaten by a scruffy consolation goal to make it 6-1 in the 68th. But the new-look Sphinx eleven were undeterred.
The substitutes took over and Sphinx added a couple of late goals. First, Platts produced a wicked backheel pass to send Lewis Noon into the right channel. Bearing down on goal, Noon looked across and got a stroke of luck when his pass went in off an Eynesbury defender.
Then, with twelve minutes left to play, the energy and determination of Platts paid off for Sphinx’s eighth goal of the afternoon. He raced towards the Eynesbury goalkeeper and blocked his kick out. The ricocheted ball crept inside the post and Sphinx had an 8-1 lead away from home.
They went close once more when Noon’s perfect corner kick was met with a thumping header by Guest to draw an equally good save from the unfortunate goalkeeper, but the visitors had to settle for a seven-goal margin and the slight frustration of conceding a sloppy goal in an otherwise crushing win.
Irrespective of Eynesbury’s ability relative to last season, this was a statement win from Sphinx. Though imperfect, any kind of win in this match would have given the start to the season a much more positive sheen. To claim victory in this manner was emphatic and will justifiably boost the confidence of the team.
With Eynesbury dispatched easily, Sphinx quickly set their sights on the Bank Holiday Monday visit to Rothwell Corinthians. They scored there six times last year but the first order of business is to return to Coventry with three points.
Sphinx team
S. Martin, Draper (Fraser), C. Martin (Kennedy), L. Downes (J. Downes), Guest, Bryson, Hayward, Woodward (Noon), Shipman, Stone, Stewart (Platts)