REPORT | Coventry Sphinx 1-1 Quorn
The Reds kicked-off their league campaign with a hard fought draw at Sphinx Drive as Paddy Webb equalised within a minute of Callum Whiteside’s opener for the hosts.
An entertaining game saw two evenly matched sides trade blows throughout a contest that swung back and forth on a very blustery afternoon in the West Midlands. Neither side ever really managed to grab the upper-hand in a end-to-end match that deservedly ended in a stalemate.
Webb had the first chance of the match as he collected the ball wide on the left, worked his way inside and found Charlie Marzano on the right. The hard-working wide man swung in an early cross that fell to Webb on the edge of the box, but his effort was comfortably gathered by Keelan Fallows in the Sphinx goal.
The best chance of the first half came around the half hour mark when Kyle Carey found space at the back post but snatched at his effort and skewed it high and wide. The second half failed to find much of a flow as both sides were guilty of niggly fouls that forced Referee Harley Hetherington to caution five players, and it could have been significantly more.
Whiteside’s header from Callum Woodward’s corner saw the match spring back in to life in the 58th minute, putting the home side aside. The celebrations had barely ended when Webb broke through the Sphinx backline and beat Fallows from a tight angle for the equaliser. Moments later Webb almost had a second but saw his shot come back off the crossbar. Courey Grantham latched on to the rebound but couldn’t keep his effort down.
Patrick Zito won a couple of headers from set-pieces, but the powerful centre-half couldn’t steer his efforts goalwards. Grantham did have the ball in the back of the net for the Reds, but The match came to a dramatic conclusion when Sphinx felt they had scored another header from a set-piece in the 93rd minute, however, the officials ruled that the ball didn’t cross the line.
Next up for the Reds is a home debut in the Pitching In Northern Premier League as we host another promoted side, Rugby Town on Tuesday evening (19:45 KO).