Halesowen Town 3-6 Coventry Sphinx
Stuart Guest
After a stomach-churning penalty shoot-out loss in the Isuzu FA Vase, Coventry Sphinx passed an immediate test of their resolve with flying colours. Three days after exiting the Vase there was more cup action for Sphinx, this time against Halesowen Town in the Birmingham County FA Senior Cup.
With a home quarter-final against Coventry City on the line, joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas shuffled the pack but opted for a strong line-up against the Yeltz on Valentine’s Day and were rewarded with a tremendous performance and a 6-3 win.
Duncan Van Den Top played well in goal behind a back three of Callum Whiteside, stand-in captain Louis Guest and Jamie Draper. Callum Martin and Jordan Hayward were the wing backs, flanking a midfield in which Leo Stone played ahead of Jack Downes and Luke Downes.
Matty Shipman and Callum Stewart were given a rest and their replacements up front made their value to the team abundantly clear.
Jamal Adams continues to work his way back to full match fitness and scored his first Sphinx goal since his return. Dylan Parker was imperious, scoring three goals and setting up two more as the home team brushed aside their Step Four opposition.
Parker served notice in the second minute, demonstrating excellent technique in firing a volley just wide of Daniel Platt’s goal. But Halesowen soon piled on the pressure and took the lead with an early goal.
A few minutes after a terrific triple-save by Van Den Top, Sphinx were picked off in transition and Simeon Cobourne was on hand to finish low past the goalkeeper. It was a soft one from the home team’s point of view but Halesowen were playing the channels and getting some joy.
After a nervy start by Sphinx the game started to even out. Halesowen threatened going forward but Guest found Parker with a lovely ball out of the back and the forward attempted another eye-catching volley that flew just across the face of Platt’s goal.
Sphinx equalised in the 17th minute. Draper’s pass into the left channel for wing back Martin was a peach and his powerfully struck cross whipped towards goal, dipped over Platt and found the back of the net. The conviction with which Martin crosses the ball means this had been coming – with that kind of drive, it becomes a really problematic shot if it’s on target.
From that point forward it was Sphinx’s night. Halesowen had a short spell just after the equaliser but mustered only a speculative shot wide from 30 yards before Parker tried one from the edge of the box. It moved in the air and Platt did well to parry to relative safety.
There was nothing the Yeltz goalkeeper could do about the goal that put Sphinx 2-1 up in the 25th minute. Parker fed Adams and he composed himself, made a yard and drilled an unstoppable left-footed shot from outside the box. It hit the bottom corner, a trademark Adams finish and a welcome return to the score sheet.
Sphinx stepped it up another gear in the middle of the first half and, after watching another ambitious but harmless Halesowen effort sail wide, they set about finding a third goal.
Stone took centre stage. After he was fouled just outside the box he swung the free kick just over the crossbar, and in the 34th minute he teed up Adams for an effort that was dragged wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Van Den Top made a stunning save to deny the visitors from a free header in the six-yard box, and with the very last kick of the first half the home team doubled their advantage.
Parker was inevitably the creator, rolling the ball into the path of Stone. The attacking midfielder was one on one with Platt, and with the angle on his side he finished beautifully into the bottom corner. Sphinx led 3-1 at the break.
The second half started as the first ended: with Sphinx on top and Halesowen struggling to get to grips with it.
In the fifth minute of the second half Adams pinched the ball off the deepest Yeltz defender and Platt was suddenly faced with a three-on-one. Adams slowed right down and unselfishly rolled the ball to the side for Parker, who also took his time before knocking it past the unfortunate goalkeeper and into the corner of the net.
Halesowen struck next. Cobourne attacked along the byline and Jac Redhead applied the finishing touch from close range to make it 4-2 with 35 minutes left to play.
Despite Halesowen’s obvious ability to score a couple of goals in short order, it seldom felt as if Sphinx were under pressure in a dominant second half. Staying on the front foot and scoring another couple of goals helped, of course, and the Dylan Parker show continued.
Platt saved from a Guest header and there was a scare at the other end, where substitute James Bryson made two clearances off the Sphinx goal line after a Halesowen corner kick just after the hour.
Parker made them rue those missed chances immediately. Hayward slipped a through ball into the right channel and the forward produced a lovely low finish that had plenty of power to beat Platt and make it 5-2 in the 62nd minute of the match.
Sphinx’s place in the last eight was all but secured nine minutes later. Platt had been dealing with the consequences of Sphinx’s incisive attacking and Halesowen’s poor defending all night but the sixth is one he won’t want to see again.
With the away team preferring to play out from the back when possible, the goalkeeper got his angles wrong in the 71st minute and gave the ball to Parker seven yards from goal. He took a touch and a breath before nudging the ball into the empty net to claim his hat-trick. There were 21 minutes between his first goal and his third.
The home team saw the game out with a swagger. A superb pass from Parker found substitute Shipman in behind. The in-form striker got there in time to lift it past Platt but it landed on the crossbar.
Stewart also came off the bench and showed great strength in the 77th minute to dig out a shot that forced the goalkeeper into a save. There was another to keep out a deflected Hayward effort soon after. Hayward came close again in the 80th minute as Sphinx ran riot.
Shipman, Guest and Stewart all went close again but it was the visitors who snatched the last goal of the game. They capitalised on a slight mix-up at the back and Taylor Homer scored his first senior goal with four minutes left to play. The game was long over.
Sphinx were deserving winners and now progress to the last eight, where the Sky Blues await them. A Coventry derby in the quarter-final was a nice incentive but by no means a distraction. It should be a special night for a lot of people at the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena.
Sphinx team
Van Den Top, Whiteside (Bryson), C. Martin (Rawlings), J. Downes, Guest, Draper, Hayward, L. Downes, Adams (Shipman), Parker (Woodward), Stone (Stewart)