Coventry Sphinx 2-2 Wellingborough Town
Stuart Guest
A controversial red card for captain Callum Woodward forced Coventry Sphinx to protect a point after being in the ascendancy in their Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division fixture against Wellingborough Town.
Shay Willock’s penalty gave the home team the lead but goals either side of half time put the Doughboys in front. Kyle Carey’s stunning strike had made it 2-2 before Woodward was dismissed at Sphinx Drive.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas made changes at the back after a disappointing defeat against Grantham Town. Charlie Woods played in goal behind a back three comprising Jamie Draper, Louis Guest and Patrick Zito, with Jordan Hayward and Joe Pursey operating as wing backs.
Callum Woodward and Jack Downes played in midfield while Carey backed up Willock and Stan Dube up front.
Sphinx started well, quickly looking for a response to a poor outing in Lincolnshire three days earlier. Dube had the first chance after five minutes, forcing a defender off the ball and picking out the bottom corner only for Doughboys goalkeeper Adam North to turn it around the post.
North saved again a few minutes later when Dube’s battling led to the ball bouncing up for Willock to volley towards goal. The striker caught it well but North, well positioned, fielded it comfortably.
The chances were falling to Sphinx but Wellingborough had some good early possession in the Sphinx half too. Will Bates and Connor Furey were particularly lively in the wide positions but Woods was untested in the first quarter of an hour.
Hayward’s skill and industry on the left offered a rich seam for the home team and his good work in the 14th minute fed Downes, who passed the ball into the path of Woodward. His shot went over but the first goal was imminent.
It was the quick thinking of Woods and Hayward that made it happen. With the ball in his hands, the Sphinx goalkeeper spotted Hayward in space and picked him out with a pinpoint long pass out to the left. Hayward headed for the Wellingborough box at speed and was fouled when he got there.
Willock took responsibility for the penalty kick for the second time in as many home matches and smashed the ball past North into the corner to give Sphinx an early lead.
Downes tried to double the advantage with a left-footed shot from 20 yards that skipped off the surface and was saved by North before a spell of pressure for the visitors illustrated the challenge faced by the Sphinx backline and, on half an hour, paid off.
Woods came out of his penalty area to make a vital tackle and won the ball but the referee blew the whistle for a free kick. Whether it was for a foul or any suggestion of handball from the ricochet, it seemed a tough call. The awarding of a yellow card didn’t satisfy either team.
Wellingborough took full advantage from the free kick. Danny Draper’s strike over the wall and beyond Woods into the far corner was picture-perfect and gave the visitors an equaliser warranted by their reaction to going behind.
They were the stronger team all over the pitch for the rest of the first half but the score at the break remained at 1-1.
The second half started with frantic energy and no discernible rhythm and Wellingborough’s second goal was a fitting outcome in the fourth minute. A promising Sphinx attack was squandered, the visitors were allowed to break too easily, and Jordan Graham’s shot kicked up off a Sphinx heel and looped over Woods to make it 2-1 to the away team.
Willock’s driven shot just wide from the edge of the box was Sphinx’s best moment in the early part of a second half in which Wellingborough played some slick passing football. A snapshot wide for the visitors reinforced the need for the hosts to get a grip and when they did, they did it in style.
Determined play on the right by Dube resulted in the ball being recycled and then sprayed back out wide by Woodward, who found Carey. The attacking midfielder stepped inside onto his left foot and whipped an unstoppable shot in off the far post from 25 yards out.
It was a phenomenal strike and Sphinx were level. They immediately went in search of the lead again. Willock fired in a powerful shot less than a minute after the goal. It dipped just over the crossbar but Sphinx were on top and sniffing a win.
The tone of the game changed immediately after a Sphinx double substitution brought Finlay Shorrock and Ryley Nicholson on for centre backs Guest and Zito. The thinking behind those changes went out of the window when Woodward was sent off for a tackle on Furey with 20 minutes left to play.
Sphinx responded by giving a debut off the bench to midfielder Idriss Fuseini. It took Wellingborough a while to press home their man advantage but eventually Woods had to make a save from Joe Blowers and another Doughboys effort struck the base of the post in the last minute of regulation time.
Hayward saw North save a fine solo effort late on too but the home team shifted into counter-attack mode throughout a lengthy period of time added on. They kept up their interest in nicking it but had to defend resolutely to see themselves over the line at the other end.
Prior to the red card Sphinx were on the up and looking for a home win, but Wellingborough enjoyed periods of control before and after Sphinx went down to ten men. The draw was a fair result in a game that was evenly contested and had a couple of spectacular goals to show for it.
Sphinx have drawn four of their last five in the league and the next game for the boys in sky blue and white is the rearranged away game against Quorn on Tuesday 29th October. The following Saturday sees Sporting Khalsa visit the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena for the second time this season.
Sphinx team
Woods, Draper, Hayward (Newey), Downes, Guest (Nicholson), Zito (Shorrock), Pursey, Woodward, Willock, Carey (Ballinger), Dube (Fuseini)