Coventry Sphinx 1-2 Harborough Town
Stuart Guest
After hitting the low point of their 2023/24 season in the reverse fixture in Leicestershire, Coventry Sphinx demonstrated their levels rather better even in a second defeat to Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands leaders Harborough Town.
The Bees ran out 2-1 winners thanks to goals either side of the half time break, with Leo Wood’s first goal for the Sphinx ensuring the visitors knew they’d been a game. Sphinx pushed them all the way and they had to draw on all of their championship credentials to take the points from this meeting of the most recent two United Counties League Premier Division South winners.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas named an unchanged starting line-up after a solid midweek draw against Loughborough Dynamo. Louis Guest had to settle for a place on the bench on his return, with Will Edjenguele and James Bryson continuing in front of goalkeeper Keelan Fallows.
Joe Pursey and Finlay Shorrock got the nod in the full back positions, while Jack Downes and captain Callum Woodward anchored the midfield behind Ashton Demulder. Matty Shipman was flanked up front once more by Tyler Haddow and Jordan Hayward.
Buoyed by a positive display against Loughborough Dynamo, Sphinx came out of the blocks quickly and made a good start. The game was delayed early on by an injury and a change of shirt for Harborough’s Gary Mulligan, but Sphinx were able to get back on the front foot after Fallows made a simple save from Tendai Daire’s header with seven minutes played. It was a significant warning shot.
Shipman turned and fired from a narrow angle a couple of minutes later, giving Bees goalkeeper Elliott Taylor his own save to make. Harborough certainly didn’t have it all their way in a very competitive opening quarter, but their threat was obvious and their ability to play direct when required is an overlooked string to their bow.
Sphinx gave as good as they got in getting forward with urgency and the result was an entertaining half in which Harborough gradually started to enjoy the bulk of the possession but found themselves up against a home team willing to fight tooth and nail for the right to play.
The Bees’ football on the deck in the attacking third started to come together and cause some problems. Defender Alex Morris zipped a left-footer wide of the post from the edge of the box just before the half-hour mark and Daire gave the visitors the lead with 30 minutes played.
Harborough won a corner on the Sphinx right and the striker’s header from the back post found the net with the help of a slight deflection – a fine finish from one of the better scorers in the division but far too simple from a Sphinx point of view.
The home team responded well to the setback and immediately won a couple of consecutive corners thanks to the dangerous delivery of Woodward, but Harborough started to turn the screw as half time approached. Sphinx dealt with it well but Luis Rose squandered a golden chance just before the break when the ball bounced in front of Fallows.
Shipman tried his luck with a left-footed volley that never looked like troubling Taylor, leaving Harborough to take a one-goal lead back into the dressing room. Though Sphinx’s clear looks at goal were infrequent, the visitors will have known they needed a second goal to really take control.
Harborough piled on the pressure from the start of the second half and it paid off. Fallows made a fantastic double save in the first minute of the half before Josh Walsh smacked a shot over from the edge of the box, but it was 2-0 as soon as the 52nd minute.
Rose raced onto a bouncing ball into the left channel and showed good strength to get the better of Pursey. He made no mistake with the finish, smashing a deadly drive past Fallows and into the roof of the Sphinx net.
Again, the home team reacted well. Soon after the restart, Shipman sent a shot over Taylor’s crossbar after sharp close-quarters play between him, Haddow and Hayward in the Sphinx front three. Four minutes later, Woodward tried a speculative one from 25 yards but couldn’t hit the target.
The last quarter of the match evolved into a terrific contest. Sphinx kept pushing and making Harborough work hard for the points even as they started to look a little like the team that scored six against Thomas and Woodward’s side in November.
Their best chance of the remaining minutes came from a Sphinx corner. They cleared the ball, broke at pace and came close when Kai Tonge got a couple of bites at it but eventually put the ball wide.
The home team made all three substitutions in the space of nine minutes, first in the form of Leo Wood and later with Luke Downes and Alfonso Castellano coming into the midfield. In between the changes, Woodward’s corner found Edjenguele and his thumping header went over the crossbar.
Wood made his mark three minutes from time. A long free kick out of midfield was flicked on by a Harborough player to send Haddow well clear and onside on the left. His drive into the box and pass across goal were exactly what was called for and Wood got across his marker to tuck in his first goal for Sphinx.
Despite a rousing finale at the end of a gutsy performance full of Sphinx attitude, the home side couldn’t carve out the opening they needed to grab an equaliser that had looked very unlikely for most of the second half. By the end, Harborough’s aim was to protect their narrow lead and that, from a team of their quality, should be taken as a compliment.
Sphinx can look back on a positive week against two extremely tough opponents with a point gained and negligible impact on their goal difference. With an eight-point cushion between them and the bottom two, holding their own in these matches could go a long way.
If one point from two difficult games is a positive, three in another crunch fixture against Cambridge City would be a massive boost. City visit Coventry on Saturday 16th March looking to balance the ledger after Sphinx’s late winner in the reverse fixture, and both teams are capable of picking up results as they fight for their lives at Step Four.
Sphinx team
Fallows, Pursey, Shorrock, J. Downes (L. Downes), Edjenguele, Bryson, Haddow, Woodward, Shipman, Demulder (Wood), Hayward (Castellano). Unused sub: Guest