Darlaston Town 0-2 Coventry Sphinx
Chris Nee
Coventry Sphinx produced one of their best performances of the season to make themselves mathematically safe from relegation and extend their first spell in the eighth tier of English football into a third year.
Goals in either half from Harry Wakefield and Iddriss Fuseini saw Sphinx past a Darlaston Town side in the mix for a play-off place, tying up a 2-0 win away from home and giving cause for confidence as they head into their last two games in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division.
Joint managers John Woodward and Shaun Thomas made changes to their team after a poor performance against Hinckley Leicester Road a week earlier, most notably shifting to a back four of Jamie Draper, Ryley Nicholson, Patrick Zito and Finlay Shorrock in front of goalkeeper Charlie Woods.
Joe Pursey and Jack Downes played in midfield with captain Callum Woodward and Jac Redhead, while Harvey Smith started up front with Wakefield for the first time.
Sphinx started well in a game that took a little while to get going thanks to a couple of early injury delays but soon proved to be an entertaining scrap.
Darlaston started to get a foot on the ball but the first half an hour was an even, chippy affair largely devoid of meaningful goalmouth action despite the full-blooded approach from both teams.
The visitors gradually seized the momentum and the first save of the match was made by Darlaston goalkeeper Stan Amos with 35 minutes played. He kept out a powerful but ambitious left-footed strike from Smith, who tried his luck from 25 yards.
Sphinx stayed on the front foot and took the lead five minutes before half time. After one attack broke down, Shorrock worked hard to recover a loose ball in the middle of the park and picked out a lovely pass to Wakefield in the left channel.
Played onside by a Darlaston defender, Wakefield knocked the ball over his marker and marched into the box, creating half a yard of space before reversing a smart finish past Amos and into the bottom corner.
Woodward and Thomas brought Jordan Hayward on at half time and he tried to double the lead all by himself only seconds later but wasn't able to test Amos after a lung-busting one-man attack.
It set the tone for a fantastic second-half performance full of chances for the away side. Smith collected a pinpoint through ball from Redhead seven minutes into the half, clipping the top of the crossbar with another well struck left-footed shot.
Callum Woodward went with his left too, snapping a shot over the top from the edge of the penalty area with ten minutes played in the second half.
Sphinx were the better team after the break. They weren't exactly hammering on Darlaston’s door but they were getting forward at will and looked more than capable of doubling their lead.
They were agonisingly close to doing so in the 64th minute. Redhead’s superb cross found Shorrock arriving at the back post and the left back’s header across the face of goal dropped just wide of the post.
Shorrock was on the hunt for a goal again five minutes later. He beat a man out on the left and cut in onto his right foot. His shot was deflected wide for a corner kick that created a number of good chances in a scramble after Wakefield’s smart header to keep the ball alive at the back post.
The centre forward fired into the side netting after showing good strength to hold off an opponent in the box with quarter of an hour remaining. By that point, Sphinx were in their groove and dominating the play.
Shorrock combined with Wakefield, slotting the striker through on goal. Amos moved quickly and stood up well to deny Sphinx a second goal but his workload in the Darlaston goal was gradually increasing.
Woods had to have his wits about him to keep out a Josh Jones header at the other end but Amos was back in the thick of it again with five minutes left, saving from Wakefield once more as the dangerous visitors pushed for a crucial second goal.
When it arrived in the 89th minute, it couldn’t have been simpler. Woodward curled in an in-swinging corner from the left wing and Fuseini got himself free to force a header into the roof of the net, assuring Sphinx of another season in the eighth tier.
Downes zipped one last shot over the crossbar in stoppage time but 2-0 was a more than satisfactory outcome for Sphinx against a team with fewer defeats this season than all but the top four in the NPL Midlands.
Sphinx now have two matches left in the 2024/25 season. Easter Saturday is a day off after the resignation of scheduled opponents Walsall Wood, so their penultimate match away at Racing Club Warwick on Easter Monday is next up on the fixture list.
On Saturday 26th April, the season concludes with a home match against Anstey Nomads. Sphinx and the Nomads drew the reverse fixture 0-0 in November.
Sphinx team
Woods, Draper (Hayward), Shorrock (Maphosa), Downes, Zito, Nicholson, Pursey, Woodward (Blowers), Wakefield, Redhead (Fuseini), Smith (Carey)