Milton Keynes Irish 0-0 Coventry Sphinx
Stuart Guest
In a world of ones and zeroes it would be easy to believe that all goalless draws are created equal. But it's not true.
Coventry Sphinx's goalless draw at Milton Keynes Irish in the Uhlsport United Counties League Premier Division South was very 0-0.
After a couple of big wins, Sphinx knew they'd be in for a game against fifth-placed Irish, and that they wouldn't have things their own way. This was the ultimate stalemate, with the emphasis on stale.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas were able to bring Jamie Draper back into the back three alongside Louis Guest and James Bryson, with Scott Martin in goal and Loz Rawlings and Callum Martin operating as wing backs.
Luke Downes and captain Callum Woodward played in the centre of midfield behind Leo Stone, with Jamal Adams getting another start up front with Callum Stewart in the absence of Matty Shipman.
The match got off to a chaotic start, with neither team able to retain or progress the ball to any useful degree. Irish started to tidy up their play before the visitors and managed to get themselves on top after a scruffy first quarter of an hour.
Sphinx were full of endeavour but short of incision and crispness. One of the closest moments to a goal came on the half hour, when a left-footed free kick from the hosts clipped Martin’s post on its way wide.
The away team needed to improve late in the half and did. Their hustle remained, now coupled with better use of the ball and, eventually, a marginal territorial advantage. But Irish had the next chance, a back-post header from a corner that sailed harmlessly wide of goal.
Sphinx had nothing to show for a gritty but untidy half and Irish goalkeeper Owusu Kyeremateng had very little work of note in a first half that ended thoroughly goalless.
The second half was almost as tough a watch as the first, but Sphinx at least made a much better start and carried more of a threat on the home team’s goals.
As the battle of attrition continued, the visitors made their best chance of the game with ten minutes played in the second half. Adams, Stone and Stewart combined superbly to create a good opening for Adams, but he fired over from close range.
In the middle of the half a tiny decision might have changed the course of the match. Sphinx were wrongly awarded the throw-in and the ensuing discontent soon led to a sin bin for the home side, who were without Luke Gardner for ten minutes and chose to bring a substitute on in his place at the end of the sanction.
While the hosts were down to ten men, Sphinx captain Woodward had to head an effort off his own goal line from a corner that should have been a goal kick, before Irish were restored to the full eleven and began to turn the screw in search of a goal.
Martin made a simple save in the 77th minute. Two minutes later a dangerous Irish shot was deflected over the Sphinx goal to keep the score at 0-0.
As full time approached, Sphinx finally made their push. On another day they might have nicked the win but they only really had two more chances to take the points.
Substitute Max Johnson took a terrific free kick that was smartly tipped around the post by Kyeremateng. From the resulting corner, the ball was cleared out as far as Woodward. Collecting it 25 yards from goal, the Sphinx captain struck his drive well but directed it past the wrong side of the post. Sometimes it just isn’t your day.
The state of play at the top end of the division is tight and the margin of error is minuscule, so coming away with a single point was understandably disappointing for Sphinx. But Irish are where they are on merit and could just as easily have won it. This was, on paper, a solid result away from Sphinx Drive.
But there’s no doubt the boys in sky blue and white will need to find another gear in terms of performance and especially creativity in the upcoming matches.
Lutterworth Town will head for Coventry keen to put things right after they were walloped by Sphinx in the reverse fixture, and then it’s a vital visit to Wellingborough Town before Coventry City come calling in the Birmingham Senior Cup.
Sphinx team
S. Martin, Draper, C. Martin (Hayward), L. Downes, Guest, Bryson, Rawlings (J. Downes), Woodward, Adams (Johnson, Stewart, Stone (Parker). Unused sub: Whiteside