Coventry Sphinx 2-3 Lye Town
Stuart Guest
Coventry Sphinx’s 2024/25 season hit its lowest point to date courtesy of a dismal home loss in torrential rain against the team sitting at the bottom of the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division at kick-off.
Lye Town were much better and far more determined than their league position suggested and ruthlessly punished Sphinx for exactly the kind of defensive lapses that had dogged them in the previous fortnight and cost them a pile of points from winning positions.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas shuffled the pack against the Flyers. Alex Lock continued at centre forward in the absence of suspended loanee Shay Willock, with Iddriss Fuseini pushed forward to play off Lock alongside Kyle Carey.
Finlay Shorrock stepped in-field to partner Jack Downes in the middle, with Jordan Hayward and Joe Pursey playing as wing backs. Goalkeeper Charlie Woods played behind a back three of Jamie Draper, captain Louis Guest and Patrick Zito.
That the game went ahead at all is testament to the hard work of the grounds team both in the long-term and immediately prior to the game. Unfortunately their efforts went unrewarded and a 3-2 defeat sent Lye back to the Black Country with all three points.
There’s nothing that can be done about wind and rain, though, and the match kicked off in a swirling downpour. Woods made the first easy save of the game with Lye breaking quickly from an attacking Sphinx free kick.
The game was messy for obvious reasons but Sphinx were able to start squeezing the visitors towards their own goal early on. Shorrock zipped a shot wide from 20 yards out before Lock, collecting an inadvertent flick-on from a Flyers defender, managed to get a shot away despite being well marshalled but couldn’t keep it on target under pressure.
Lye struck back in kind but Carey went one better with a 25-yarder that bounced just in front of goalkeeper George Barrett and was touched onto the post by the Lye goalkeeper.
Sphinx were doing a good job of getting into the channels quickly and playing on the ground from there. They looked dangerous on the ball but weren’t quite able to connect in the attacking third.
Shorrock’s potshot from 30 yards kept Barrett working by skipping off the pitch before he grabbed it. Lye put together a decent five minutes before Sphinx caught them out and opened the scoring in the middle of the first half.
A long ball forward found its way to Hayward as the man over in the left-hand channel. He took a touch out of his feet and into the box, then crashed the ball past the grasp of Barrett to give Sphinx a 1-0 lead for which they were, at the time, good value.
The defensive collapse that followed will haunt the home team for some time. Three minutes after scoring, they conceded. Poor defending made the opportunity for Joe Palmer, who finished neatly and low past Woods to draw the Flyers level.
Sphinx need to make sure conceding two goals in quick succession doesn’t become a habit but for the second time in eight days they did exactly that.
Lye won possession from the restart, strolled through the hosts and created an opening for Lewis Wright with precious little resistance. He found the corner and it was 2-1 to the visitors.
It quickly went from bad to worse for the Sphinx. Woods made a fantastic save from a well struck free kick after a foul by Fuseini but another dead ball ten minutes before the break took the game away from them within ten minutes of going in front.
A free kick from the side of the box wasn’t cleared and eventually fell nicely for Dan Tozer, who forced the ball through bodies to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.
They were playing the conditions much more smartly than Sphinx and, with the exception of a speculative clip over from Carey, a dreadful quarter came to an end with little indication that the home team could find a way back into the game.
Newey had replaced Fuseini in the first half and club captain Callum Woodward came on at half time in place of Joe Pursey. The second half was attritional to say the least, the pitch sodden and the rain falling more and more forcefully. Woodward’s influence was a real positive in the midfield scrap.
There were some half chances before Sphinx pulled a goal back. Barrett blocking well to deny Zito at close range was a key moment but they were few and far between – when you require a couple of goals, you need to build a level of momentum that’s practically impossible in a storm. Not being two goals behind in the first place was the more advisable plan.
In the middle of the half, the hospitality of the home team was on display again but the Flyers failed to punish them, and with a shade over 20 minutes remaining the Sphinx made things interesting with their second goal of the afternoon.
A partially cleared ball dropped for Newey, who fired along the turf and benefited from the slick surface as his shot slipped under Barrett to halve the deficit. Sphinx brought Damian Kelly into the action at centre forward and tried to summon a big push but found it difficult to create the crucial opening.
Newey fed another substitute, Stan Dube, whose shot was firmly struck but well blocked by a Lye defence willing to do whatever it took to hold on to the points. Eight minutes from time Woodward cleverly tried to clip one over Barrett and forced the Lye goalkeeper into his best save of the game.
There were two late chances for Sphinx but neither paid off. Draper’s diving header from a corner flew safely over the visitors’ crossbar before Carey’s curling effort was saved and held by Barrett to see the Flyers safely over the line.
The conditions on this Saturday afternoon were genuinely awful and extremely difficult to play in. It’s impossible to question the effort of the Sphinx players on a pitch that grew heavier with every minute.
But character is also about bravery on the ball and composure in difficult moments. Sphinx lacked both. It would be disrespectful to have expected a win and there’s no doubt Lye were worthy victors, but the pattern of the last month or so has not been a good one. A reaction is needed.
The opportunities to put November right will come thick and fast in December. This month’s last fixture takes Sphinx to Hinckley Leicester Road before a Birmingham Senior Cup tie at Tamworth and league fixtures against Long Eaton United, AFC Rushden & Diamonds, Quorn, Shepshed Dynamo and Racing Club Warwick to see out the year.
Sphinx team
Woods, Draper, Hayward, Downes, Guest, Zito (Kelly), Pursey (Woodward), Shorrock, Lock (Dube), Carey, Fuseini (Newey)