Grantham Town 2-1 Coventry Sphinx
Stuart Guest
Coventry Sphinx were beaten 2-1 in a bad-tempered Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division fixture at Grantham Town, which ended with Sphinx’s Louis Guest being shown the red card at the final whistle long after being substituted.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas made five changes to their starting line-up. Joe Pursey came in at right back with Finlay Shorrock on the left, Guest and Patrick Zito in the middle, and Charlie Woods in goal.
Jack Downes returned to the midfield with captain Callum Woodward. Shay Willock played up front from the start in front of Kyle Carey, with Jordan Hayward back on the left flank and Roan Newey making his first league start on the right.
Hayward scored the Sphinx goal in first-half stoppage time after two goals in three minutes had put the Gingerbreads in the driving seat inside the first 20 minutes.
The visitors started off on the front foot, had a lot of the ball early on and were able to get Hayward in behind on the left wing.
Guest won a header cleanly from a Woodward corner in the third minute but sent his header over the Grantham crossbar. Ten minutes later a Pursey pass into the box was picked up by Willock, whose shot also went over.
The Gingerbreads took the lead with quarter of an hour played and it was a frustrating goal to concede from a Sphinx point of view. A corner from the Grantham left was allowed to sail right across goal and went in at the back post off striker Lewis Darlington.
Just three minutes later Darlington made it 2-0 with his second goal of the afternoon, this time a smart finish across Woods and into the bottom corner after Sphinx had been caught out on their left.
The away team had it all to do and started to get back on the ball in the middle of the half, though the play in general was quite direct from both sides for a spell.
Newey had the ball in the net after 26 minutes when he challenged the Grantham goalkeeper and the ball ricocheted past him for an easy finish, but the referee judged his touch to have been a handball and disallowed the goal.
Grantham took control around the half-hour mark, getting a foot on the ball and moving it well in the Sphinx half. It ultimately led to a couple of chances from a long throw-in that really should have made it three.
Instead, Sphinx got themselves back into the game in the first minute of first-half stoppage time. Hayward won a tackle on the edge of the Grantham box, gathered in the ball and finished well into the bottom corner to halve the difference before the break.
As the game became chippy, Sphinx made a positive start to the second half. They pushed hard in the first ten minutes and Grantham appeared vulnerable. Unfortunately for the visitors, their final ball was found wanting on a number of occasions.
Willock took on a speculative shot in the 57th minute, driving it wide of the near post, before Sphinx got a clear warning that Grantham still carried a threat. Darlington curled over at the end of a quick break and should have completed his hat-trick.
By now, Sphinx had lost some of their second-half momentum and started to look short of an idea in the final third. Grantham saw a couple of chances go wide of Woods’ post as the game moved into its last quarter of an hour.
The big talking point – on the pitch, at least – came in the 81st minute.
Willock's tenacity in the box won him the ball before the goalkeeper with his back to goal. He turned well, beat a man and was cleaned out by a defender before he could pass the ball into the empty net. The referee’s lack of interest in the incident was surprising to say the least.
The visitors opted for big bodies up front in big numbers for the last ten minutes, which became twenty with the addition of stoppage time. It produced little, the best late attempt being a volley wide by Pursey shortly after the penalty shout.
The final whistle sparked a long and ugly confrontation between the teams in the Grantham box. The upshot was a straight red card for Guest, suggesting that he was the aggressor and the only player or coach to transgress in the melee.
After giving away two early goals it was always going to be an uphill battle. Sphinx had the better of the few meaningful attacks in a fractious second half that had little to offer in terms of quality.
They can certainly feel aggrieved not to have had a chance to equalise from the penalty spot for the second game in a row but didn't create enough opportunities to warrant a point.
Next up for the boys in sky blue and white is a Tuesday night fixture at home against Wellingborough Town, who were promoted as United Counties League Premier Division South champions last season, a year after Sphinx did the same.
Sphinx team
Woods, Pursey, Shorrock, Downes (Martin), Guest (Nicholson), Zito, Newey, Woodward (Dube), Willock, Carey (Draper), Hayward. Unused sub: Ballinger