Coventry Sphinx 1-0 Bedworth United
Stuart Guest
Coventry Sphinx banked their second win of the season by beating Bedworth United 1-0 in a full-blooded Bank Holiday derby in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division.
Kyle Carey scored the only goal of the game in the first half, continuing his fine scoring form at the start of 2024/25. Sphinx lost striker Shay Willock to a straight red card deep into stoppage time at the end of the match.
Carey played off Willock as part of Sphinx’s front four, with Jordan Hayward returning to the starting eleven to play on the opposite flank to Stan Dube, whose pass sent Carey through for his goal.
Callum Woodward and Jack Downes anchored the midfield in front of an unchanged back four of Joe Pursey, Jamie Draper, Patrick Zito and Callum Martin, and goalkeeper Keelan Fallows.
The home team started slowly and were up against it for a few minutes before the first chance of the game fell their way with six minutes played. Hayward’s clever play in the Bedworth box teed up Dube, who didn’t get the contact he wanted on the ball and watched as it drifted wide of Liam O’Brien’s post.
After a period of ebb and flow, Bedworth started to take control of possession but Sphinx’s threat on the counter-attack was always present. In the 20th minute, Downes stepped up from midfield to fire over from 25 yards. Sphinx’s next meaningful attack was much more effective.
With 22 minutes played, the home team took the lead. Dube’s excellent through ball presented Carey with the opportunity but he still had plenty to do to get across a defender, hold him off, open up his body and slot the ball past O’Brien.
He almost had another less than a minute later, when his deft shot across the face of goal missed the far post by just a few inches. Sphinx’s lead remained at one and they will have expected the Greenbacks to carve out a few chances to draw level.
The first of those openings went the way of Adam Hanson in the 26th minute. His shot through bodies from the edge of the box drew an unorthodox save from Sphinx goalkeeper Fallows before the talking point of the first half flared up at the other end.
Under pressure from Willock, O’Brien and centre back Elliot Parrott collided heavily outside the Bedworth penalty area. Willock was shown a yellow card despite playing no physical part in the incident, which led to a lengthy stoppage and ultimately sent Parrott to hospital with the visitors already down a defender earlier in the game. We send him our best wishes.
The game started to get scrappy and ill-tempered as half time approached. Sphinx had to hold firm going into the break, benefiting from a good shape off the ball as Bedworth failed to open them up despite enjoying their best spell in the Sphinx half.
Bedworth’s Dexter Walters received a yellow card for diving in the opposition box, a decision that served to take the sting out of any half time complaints from the home team.
The hosts had several chances to put the game beyond Bedworth. Five minutes into the second half, a quick break sent Carey into the box. Willock was available and the goal scorer found him in space. The striker’s first-time shot rolled just the wrong side of the post, another agonising close call for Sphinx.
Bedworth were able to build some pressure in the second half but Sphinx handled it well and seldom seemed likely to concede. Walters' shot went safely wide after ten minutes, and a free kick sailed over Fallows’ crossbar just before the hour.
Sphinx needed to get a foot on the ball. A Bedworth corner forced another save from Fallows, who saved well from a header, before Sphinx regained the impetus and set about the search for a second goal once more.
Dube created another chance with 25 minutes remaining, this time a low Willock drive that was deflected wide for a corner. O’Brien’s reactions to make a save with the ball pinging around in front of his line after a Woodward free kick a minute later were impressive.
Carey poked the home team’s last real shot into the side netting in the 71st minute, a moment that brought about a shift in focus and the start of a monumental defensive effort in the last quarter of the match.
Chris Cox’s glancing header from another Greenbacks corner went wide and was probably Bedworth’s best chance of the second half. By the end of normal time, Bedworth were loading the Sphinx box and the home team squandered a couple of opportunities to keep the ball at the other end. Fallows saved well in the 94th minute, all but seeing out stoppage time for his team.
In the 96th minute, Sphinx went down to ten men. Willock was shown a straight red card for his part in an ugly flashpoint in his own penalty area. It seems unlikely he was the only offender worthy of censure but the time remaining was sufficiently short for the hosts to see out the win.
Sphinx have picked up points steadily through the first month of the season, exactly as required. Two wins in the first four games represents an improvement on last season and a good step forward for joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas.
Securing the points was every bit as important as scoring the goal that made it possible in the first place. Sphinx’s back four and goalkeeper were right at the top of their game to claim a very satisfying and well deserved clean sheet.
The final game of the month takes Sphinx on the road for an away fixture against Walsall Wood on Saturday, before they return to the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena for their second crack at the Isuzu FA Trophy. Sporting Khalsa will be the opponents in First Round Qualifying.
Sphinx team
Fallows, Pursey, Martin, Downes, Zito, Draper, Hayward (Williams), Woodward (Ballinger), Dube, Carey (Lock), Willock. Unused subs: Pryce, Guest