Coventry Sphinx 1-1 Corby Town
Stuart Guest
After conceding five in their last home game and four in the abandoned fixture at Quorn, Coventry Sphinx returned to their fighting form of the early season and picked up a valuable point against unbeaten Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division leaders Corby Town.
Joint Sphinx managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas welcomed new goalkeeper Charlie Woods into the team behind a back four comprising Jamie Draper, Louis Guest, Pat Zito and the returning Finlay Shorrock.
Captain Callum Woodward played in midfield with Jack Downes. Jordan Hayward and Stan Dube occupied the wide positions, with Callum Ballinger slotting in behind Alex Lock as a makeshift striker with Sam Lockley and Shay Willock still suspended along with defender Joe Pursey.
The home team signalled their intent from the off and Hayward got himself into a promising position in the first minute of the match. His pass across the box found a Sphinx shirt but Lock was off-balance and unable to hit the target.
The front man had a driven shot blocked with five minutes played as his team continued to grow into the game. They showed plenty of quality as well as guts and were on top by the time a clash of heads between Hayward and Jordan Yong led to a delay for a pair of blood injuries.
Sphinx’s rhythm wasn’t interrupted by the pause and they opened the scoring in the 18th minute. Captain Woodward’s in-swinging corner beyond the back post was brilliantly kept in play by Zito, whose volley across the face of Ross Durrant’s goal was headed in from close range by Ballinger to bag his second goal for the club.
Corby stepped up their performance after the goal but met with stern resistance from a Sphinx team willing to put their bodies on the line.
Guest got his freshly aerodynamic head in the way of the first Steelmen shot in anger and the resulting corner was cleared as far as Spencer Edwards, who fired it back in with interest from 25 yards. His strike had no shortage of venom but he couldn’t keep it under the bar.
The home team were by no means shrinking from the challenge. A minute later Hayward found another good position on the right, cut in on his left foot and caught the shot well. Durrant made a diving save to turn it wide.
A minute later, Woodward’s cross took a nick off Lock and crept just wide. With Sphinx making the running, Hayward was involved again to tee up a half-chance for Downes. He didn’t get all of it but Durrant had to save again.
The temperature started to rise late in the first half, exacerbated by a contentious yellow card for Ballinger. Edwards went close again in stoppage time, again from the second ball off a Corby corner. This time he was in the box to glance the delivery towards goal, where Woods was on hand to make a handy stop.
Teams at the top of the league aren’t beaten without a fight and Corby’s reaction early in the second half was exactly what Thomas and Woodward would have expected. The visitors got on the ball and tried to crank up the tempo. A spell of pressure followed and eventually paid off.
Woods made a terrific save to keep out a curling shot from the edge of the box in the 51st minute. The subsequent corner got a couple of touches in front of the Sphinx goal and ended up clipping the woodwork. Two minutes later Jordan O’Brien smashed a shot off the crossbar but the equalising goal wasn’t far away.
Sphinx’s goalkeeper was adjudged to have committed a foul in the box, a decision that divided opinion on the sidelines. Corby striker Fletcher Toll strode up to the spot and sent Woods the wrong way to level the scores with a confident penalty kick ten minutes into the half.
The visitors pushed for a winner but Sphinx handled the threat well after initially looking a little ragged. Four substitutions in relatively short order brought Tolani Omotola, Roan Newey, Ryley Nicholson and Andre Williams into the fray and the home team regained their composure and made sure they kept the Steelmen honest defensively.
A deflection took the edge off a well struck Newey shot to simplify the save for Durrant eight minutes from time, with Sphinx now looking the more dangerous of the teams. But it was Corby who had two late opportunities to win it.
Daniel Gordon curled a free kick over the crossbar with three minutes left to play and Corby were awarded another in added time. Despite having a practice run at it with his previous attempt, Gordon’s second go was less accurate than his first and the game ended all square.
On another day, the penalty isn't given and Corby have to find another way to solve the puzzle and protect their unbeaten record. In that sense, it would be easy to feel disappointed that Sphinx didn't hold on for all three points.
But limiting the league leaders to a draw is a good way to build confidence in the team's ability to keep picking up points at a steady rate. Scoring first gave them something to scrap for and they did exactly that.
Sphinx move into October with an away fixture against Rugby Town and a home match against Boldmere St Michaels on the next two Saturdays, with a visit to AFC Rushden & Diamonds sandwiched in between.
Those will be three more big tests but with players now starting to return from injury and suspension, Woodward and Thomas will at least have more of their options back in play.
Sphinx team
Woods, Draper (Nicholson), Shorrock, Downes, Guest, Zito, Hayward, Woodward, Lock (Newey), Ballinger (Omotola), Dube (Williams). Unused sub: Martin