Coventry Sphinx 0-1 Sporting Khalsa
Stuart Guest
Coventry Sphinx got their first taste of Step Four defeat on an otherwise encouraging night under the lights at the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena. Sporting Khalsa held on to a 1-0 lead to see out a second half dominated by Sphinx’s push for an equaliser.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas opted to start with both Callum Martin and the returning Jordan Hayward on the left. Joe Pursey played on the other flank and the defence was completed by Callum Whiteside and stand-in skipper Louis Guest.
Luke Downes and Jack Downes both started again while Max Johnson came back into the starting line-up with captain Callum Woodward unavailable. Kyle Carey played off striker Matty Shipman and there was a debut in goal for new signing Zach Hedge, who came in with Keelan Fallows also unavailable.
Sphinx did themselves proud with their best performance yet in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands but were ultimately on the wrong end of a 1-0 result that could so easily have turned out better.
The home team sought to catch Khalsa cold from the start and were competitive right from the off. They had some joy up front in the first few minutes as they hunted an early lead. Hayward’s fine wing work led to a chance in the third minute, Johnson firing over after Carey had kept Hayward’s cross alive at the back post.
Hayward took the next shot on himself as a positive start began to look like an excellent one. Khalsa goalkeeper Sam Arnold had to field his right-footed shot after he cut in from the left flank.
With Sphinx seeming more connected up front than at any other point so far this season and standing up well to the more experienced and more physical visitors, they looked likeliest to score the game’s first goal.
Instead it was Khalsa who took the lead and the first goal was also the last. In the 17th minute the ball was rolled across from the left for Curvin Sanderson-Ellis, who smartly tucked it past Hedge and into the top corner.
The hosts were briefly knocked off their stride by the goal and were more ragged for a spell in the middle of the first half. Their best attempt of the period came from a piece of good fortune. Sphinx got lucky with a ball going loose in a dangerous area and right back Pursey’s piledriver had to be saved well by Arnold at his near post.
Hedge was in action a few minutes later, getting a glove on a powerful shot to turn it onto the bar. As the game grew ever more heated, Khalsa played some neat football in midfield and produced a few half chances but little of note.
Sphinx were by no means second best. Five minutes before half time Arnold had to thwart Shipman’s shot on the turn as the home team piled on the pressure, and three minutes after that Carey’s clever play from a Sphinx throw-in culminated in the forward making a yard for a left-footed shot that whipped just wide of the post.
Woodward and Thomas were forced into a change at half time. Luke Downes was withdrawn and replaced by Sam Ellis, who was instrumental in the first clear chance of the second half.
His fine turn in the build-up helped to create the opening for Hayward eight minutes into the half. He drilled the shot left-footed across goal and it ended up going just wide. Sphinx, though, were in the midst of another lively start and Khalsa were struggling to keep them at bay.
The home team played with excellent balance against tough opponents. They met the physical challenge head-on – it was by far the best performance of the nascent season by that measure – and played incisive attacking football in the search for an equalising goal.
They thought they’d made the breakthrough with 17 minutes left on the clock. A Khalsa clearance ricocheted in behind their defence where substitute Dylan Parker was able to snaffle the ball, take it round Arnold and roll it home.
The assistant referee watched the whole thing unfold right in front of him and steadfastly kept his flag down from beginning to end. Khalsa’s complaints alerted the referee and the goal was chalked off when it was established that the ball had made its way to Parker directly from a block by Shipman. Cue tardy flag.
They say it’s the hope that kills you. Really it’s the full minute when you’re allowed to believe erroneously that the hope has been fulfilled.
By now Sphinx were firing on all cylinders and putting together what was a superb performance in the second half. For the last quarter of an hour they turned the screw with increasing intensity, yet the one serious opening they needed never really dropped for them.
Indeed, the best chance in those final few minutes was a thumping header from a Khalsa corner that forced Hedge to make the best save of the match in the penultimate minute. For all the effort, Sphinx couldn’t find a reply in stoppage time and suffered their first league defeat.
Despite the result, Sphinx’s showing against Khalsa was pleasing. They tore out of the blocks to have a pop at one of the better teams in the division last season, then made them work extremely hard to hold on for the win after a rousing second half.
The first NPL win is yet to arrive but the players look more suited to this level week by week, adjusting to the speed and physicality of the matches. They’re fast learners – this was only the third game and on another night it might even have gone entirely the other way.
Thomas and Woodward’s team now move into a busy August Bank Holiday weekend, starting with a long Saturday trip to Spalding United and concluding with a Monday afternoon home fixture against neighbours Bedworth United.
Sphinx team
Hedge, Pursey, Martin (Parker), L. Downes (Ellis), Guest, Whiteside, Hayward, J. Downes (Cristofaro), Shipman, Carey, Johnson. Unused subs: Peplinski, Jackson