Coventry Sphinx 0-0 Darlaston Town
Stuart Guest
Coventry Sphinx’s league season started with a win, a loss and a draw. The latter was an absorbing goalless draw at home against newcomers Darlaston Town in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division.
Sphinx banked their fourth point after a match that wasn’t short on chances for either side but remained 0-0 with the defences getting the rub of the green and both goalkeepers making a number of saves with relative ease.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas were without Jordan Hayward and injured defender Louis Guest, meaning a start for Callum Martin at left back and another appearance for Jamie Draper alongside Pat Zito in the centre of defence. Joe Pursey continued at right back with Keelan Fallows in goal.
An unchanged front four saw Shay Willock flanked by Andre Williams and Stan Dube, with Kyle Carey playing off him and skipper Callum Woodward returning to the starting eleven to play in midfield with Jack Downes.
Both teams indicated an early willingness to go long in a fixture that started cagey and gradually opened up. Darlaston started on the front foot and worked the first good opening, screwing a shot wide with five minutes played.
Another pair of chances soon followed, both in a phase of play that started with a foul on Downes that wasn’t given, and Sphinx found it difficult to get going. With strong, physical players at the back and up front, Darlaston edged the beginnings of the battle.
After quarter of an hour Carey was fouled on the edge of the visitors’ box and took the free kick himself. It clipped the bottom of the wall and led to a straightforward save for Darlaston’s on-loan goalkeeper James Storer.
The away team won a few headers from corners throughout the match. Fallows saved neatly from the first before the teams exchanged half chances to no avail.
In the middle of the half, Sphinx managed to get a foot on the ball in the attacking third and start probing for the opening goal. Dube’s through pass into the right channel teed up Willock in the 23rd minute and the striker took the shot early, firing a thumping drive into the side netting.
Dube was soon involved again, catching a defender out to keep the ball alive in the corner, cutting inside and drilling a right-footed shot through the crowd. Storer did well to get down quickly and turn the ball around the post.
The closest either team really came to scoring was in the 28th minute when a Darlaston forward beat Fallows to the ball and lobbed it high towards goal. It didn’t quite have the direction or the legs, dropping slightly wide and still in play before being cleared for a corner. Another headed attempt was the result, this time sailing well over the crossbar to safety.
The visitors were playing with more control as half time loomed but Sphinx were scrapping and it gave them a few decent attacks. Carey shot over the bar under pressure five minutes from half time, and Willock didn’t quite catch his shot at the end of another tenacious attack that was as much about determination as guile.
Sphinx started the second half more brightly than the first but the game was well balanced and Darlaston soon put together another spell of their own. From another corner for them, another header, this time wide of Fallows’ post.
Carey smacked a speculative effort over with his left foot on the hour. For a while, Sphinx generated the better openings but were unable to get their shots off with the visitors defending resolutely in their own penalty area.
In the final twenty minutes the home team produced a left-footed shot from Downes that drifted wide without concerning Storer in the Darlaston goal, followed a few minutes later by a Dube header that went over but did give the goalkeeper something to think about.
It was the last meaningful chance of a match that delivered intensity without ever quite catching fire.
Both teams can be satisfied with a good point won the hard way and the continuation of a solid start to the league season. Chances came and went but seldom threatened to break the deadlock, and the result was the only one that would have made any sense.
Sphinx will be back at home on Bank Holiday Monday after a second consecutive Saturday without a fixture. Bedworth United will be the visitors to the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena as Woodward and Thomas seek to build on the positives they’ve seen in the early part of the season.
Sphinx team
Fallows, Pursey, Martin, Downes, Zito, Draper, Williams, Woodward, Willock, Carey, Dube. Unused subs: Pryce, Ballinger, Lock, Newey, Omotola