Racing Club Warwick 2-3 Coventry Sphinx
Chris Nee
Coventry Sphinx ended their schedule of away matches with a second consecutive win to take their 2024/25 points tally in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division to 45.
Six of those points came against Racing Club Warwick, over whom Sphinx completed a league double with a victory at Townsend Meadow. Kyle Carey, Harvey Smith and Luke Shearer scored the goals in a 3-2 win.
Joint manager John Woodward was flying solo in Warwick and was without Callum Woodward, Jack Downes and Finlay Shorrock for this Easter Monday fixture.
Goalkeeper Charlie Woods captained the side for the first time behind Jamie Draper, Patrick Zito and Ryley Nicholson in defence.
Joe Pursey and Jordan Hayward played outside a midfield of Iddriss Fuseini and Jac Redhead, with Kyle Carey supporting strikers Smith and Harry Wakefield.
Carey got Sphinx off to a racing start in the fourth minute. After Hayward nutmegged a defender on the left and saw his shot blocked, Carey collected the loose ball and skipped past two players before reversing a left-footed shot past Sam Lomax and into the net.
Warwick’s goalkeeper kept the score down to 1-0 a minute later with a fine fingertip save to flick a 20-yard piledriver from Wakefield over the top for a corner.
Smith, who supplied Hayward before the opening goal, combined with the wing back again in the eighth minute and found him with a clever ball into the channel. Hayward went for goal from a tight angle, forcing Lomax to save with his feet.
With Sphinx running riot in the early going next to the racecourse, he saved yet again four minutes later. This time, Redhead’s free kick from wide on the right was met by Draper. Lomax clawed the ball away from just inside his post.
The Racers were given a way back into the match with the softest of penalties, awarded after quarter of an hour and confidently rolled in by striker Max McNulty to make it 1-1.
Now level, the home team had a spell on top and it was Woods’ turn to keep the opposition down to a single goal. With 18 minutes played, he saved well to stop a header from close range and the rebound was diverted over the crossbar.
Sphinx were able to get forward at speed and in numbers throughout the first half and Lomax reacted quickly to deny Hayward again after he smartly collected an excellent long pass from Zito and hit a powerful shot towards the near post.
The goalkeeper saved again from another Draper header from the subsequent corner but wasn’t able to prevent Sphinx’s second goal in the next minute of added time.
Smith broke the Warwick line to meet a high bouncing ball that was clipped in behind. Lomax came out to meet him but Smith improvised a lobbed header that dropped into the net to give the visitors a lead at the break and earn Smith a first Step Four goal.
The Racers’ goalkeeper was called into action yet again four minutes into the second half, thwarting Carey’s drilled left-footed shot.
Sphinx started the second half well but Warwick had a spell in the ascendancy with the visitors playing within themselves but still able to get in on goal with ease.
Just after the hour mark, Carey picked out a terrific pass to Smith. The striker pushed into the box and chopped back onto his right foot. Sphinx felt he’d been tripped but no penalty was given and he got up to give Lomax another save to add to his list.
The temperature rose in every sense in the middle of the second half and the teams exchanged chances.
A shot wide from a sliding Racer was followed by a painfully close call at the other end, when Hayward zipped a dangerous pass across the face of goal that Wakefield almost connected with on his way into the metalwork at the bottom of the back of the net.
Warwick did get their goal with 20 minutes remaining. James Hancocks rose highest at the back post to nod a header past Woods and equalise for a second time.
Sphinx came into the half with a lot of attacking quality still on the bench. Woodward introduced Shearer and Joe Blowers either side of a Wakefield effort that was blocked wide for a corner, and it would ultimately pay off.
Woods made an exceptional save with two minutes to play, diving to his right to turn away a point blank header from former Sphinx forward Andre Williams. Sphinx were holding on a little at that point but the winner went their way in stoppage time.
It came from the penalty spot. Shearer got free on the left of the Warwick penalty area and was tripped up before he could hit the byline.
On his return from injury, Shearer stepped up to take the spot kick himself and fired it past Lomax to give his team a late win and add to his own personal contribution of points won in time added on.
Sphinx move into the last week of the season looking up the table rather than down. Rugby Town, Lye Town and Grantham Town take up the relegation spots that remained after the resignation of Walsall Wood.
Woodward and Shaun Thomas now face a final home fixture against Anstey Nomads on Saturday 26th April to round off a season that ends with goals having been met and improvements having been made ahead of a third Step Four campaign.
Sphinx team
Woods, Draper, Hayward, Fuseini, Zito, Nicholson (Maphosa), Pursey, Redhead, Wakefield (Blowers), Carey, Smith (Shearer). Unused subs: Kelly, Newey