Coventry Sphinx 0-2 Sporting Khalsa
Stuart Guest
Two Sporting Khalsa goals in the space of five minutes knocked Coventry Sphinx out of the Isuzu FA Trophy at the First Round Qualifying stage. For the second home game in a row, a Sphinx player was sent off in stoppage time with no material impact on the outcome of the match.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas had to navigate not only Shay Willock’s suspension but the absence through injury of Stan Dube and Kyle Carey, the rest of Sphinx’s front three at the start of the previous match, and captain Callum Woodward.
That meant a first start for Roan Newey, who played off makeshift striker Alex Lock. Jordan Hayward and Andre Williams returned to the wide forward positions, with Jack Downes captaining the side from midfield along with Callum Ballinger.
Joe Pursey, Jamie Draper, Patrick Zito and Callum Martin formed a back four in front of goalkeeper Keelan Fallows and knew they'd be in for a tough afternoon against a Khalsa attacking corps featuring some very dangerous names.
Khalsa got on the ball early at the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena and Sphinx’s adapted line-up had to work hard to drag themselves into what was bound to be a difficult fixture. The visitors were willing to get the ball forward quickly but Sphinx started to come into the game and had the first chance.
With twelve minutes played, Lock’s hustling paid off and won his team the ball in Khalsa’s defensive third. The subsequent move culminated in a well struck Newey shot that had to be parried by goalkeeper Sam Arnold.
Khalsa showed their potency on the break after clearing the ball. Dilano Reid got a decent look at goal as a result, curling over the crossbar.
The action was end-to-end for a spell in the middle of the first half, with Sphinx looking able to break Khalsa’s back line. But the visitors carried the real threat and Todd Ferrier zipped a fine attempt just wide in the 20th minute.
They took the lead after half an hour and scored a second five minutes later. They were similar goals, with Reid’s quality on the ball a significant factor from the right wing.
Simeon Cobourne scored the first, drilling the ball past Fallows after bringing it under control from a cross. Sphinx allowed him too much space in the box and the goalkeeper had no chance of denying a finisher of his standard from that kind of range.
The second goal was tucked in at the back post by Samson Hewett to mark an impressive Khalsa debut, again from a cross from the right. Sphinx hadn’t responded to going behind and were second best again after Khalsa made it 2-0.
The lead at half time always seemed likely to be enough with Sphinx needing to be at their best to come back on an afternoon when they were some way short.
Woodward and Thomas tweaked their team at the break. Martin was withdrawn and replaced by fellow defender Ryley Nicholson, making his Sphinx debut at last after sustaining an awful injury in the pre-season friendly against Leamington. A shift in shape also moved Williams to more of a central position and Sphinx looked a little better for it.
Nevertheless, Reid came closest to scoring the game’s third goal as early as the 51st minute. His low drive from 20 yards had plenty of force behind it and a good save from Fallows was needed to flick it up and off the top of the crossbar.
Sphinx’s best chance came and went just before the hour mark and resulted from their best move of the game.
Newey’s pass into the right channel for Pursey was perfectly weighted and Pursey’s cross picked out Lock, who ran himself into the ground in a lone striker role. He managed to gather the ball in but fired wide under pressure.
The extent of Sphinx’s injury problems was made clear when the need for an extra striker was fulfilled by central defender Louis Guest, who came off the bench in place of Newey with 20 minutes remaining to battle it out with Khalsa skipper Tesfa Robinson.
Despite the renewed physical presence up top for the home team, Khalsa had by far the best of the possession in the second half. Fallows saved well to keep a ricocheting ball out of his net shortly after Guest’s introduction, while a foul by the stand-in striker gave Hewett the chance to shoot wide from a free kick.
Sphinx’s joint managers handed out a couple more debuts. Samir Muzzafer came on late for Hayward and Beau Friel replaced Ballinger.
Khalsa largely kept Sphinx at arm’s length in the second half and they never really tested Arnold. Guest was played in a couple of minutes into stoppage time only to see his chip easily fielded, and all that remained was for unnecessary late drama in the Sphinx half.
In the last seconds of four minutes of stoppage time, Pursey was dismissed for a challenge that some referees wouldn’t have given as a foul, some would have been satisfied to punish with a free kick, some would have seen as a yellow card offence, and very, very few would deem worthy of a red. It was the last kick in the teeth of a miserable afternoon.
Khalsa were worthy winners and move on to the next round of the FA Trophy. Sphinx gave a reasonable account of themselves in extremely difficult circumstances but struggled in vain to carve out the opening they needed to get themselves back into the game.
Pursey’s red card was a sour end to a game the home team should have been able to chalk up to experience and put behind them. A consistent back four will now be broken up for three matches while he serves a suspension that’s wholly unjustified.
Sphinx return to league action with a home fixture against Long Eaton United, before visits to Quorn and Anstey Nomads, and another home game against Corby Town to see out the month of September.
Sphinx team
Fallows, Pursey, Martin (Nicholson), Downes, Zito, Draper, Williams, Ballinger (Friel), Lock, Newey (Guest), Hayward (Muzzafer). Unused sub: Van Den Top