REPORT | Quorn 4-0 Coventry Sphinx
After a decade plus absence from the FA Trophy, Quorn made a triumphant return to the competition with a scintillating 4-0 rout of Coventry Sphinx. Paddy Webb scored a brace with Charlie Marzano adding a third, before Louis Guest turned in to his own net to put an exclamation point on a one-sided affair.
Quorn dominated early possession, confidently stroking the ball around as the visitors struggled to gain a foothold in the match. Webb drew the first save from Keelan Fallows as he picked the ball up on halfway and drove towards goal. Fallows denied him with his feet after Webb had turned inside former Coventry City man William Edjenguele.
The breakthrough finally came in the 25th minute as the hosts scored the goal their early play had richly deserved. Silvio Bello sprinted down the left, beating two defenders and laying the ball across goal. Tyree Wilson touched it back to Webb, in acres of space, to smash it past Fallows. Sphinx finally woke up after falling behind and Matthew Shipman went close with an effort that sailed narrowly over on the half hour mark. Callum Woodward forced a save from Charlie Woods, who had been a spectator up to that point, but the first half largely fizzled out in the sweltering heat.
Webb added a second shortly after the break, as Quorn looked refreshed and began to dominate the ball again. Once again, Quorn’s topscorer was afforded space in the box and able to pick his spot. Marzano added the third just before the hour mark, cutting in off the right and driving in to the box and tucking his shot inside the left hand post, as the Reds ran riot over their beleaguered visitors.
It took an excellent save from Fallows in the 71st minute to deny Bello what would have been a superb strike, turning the former Forest man’s effort round the post. Substitute Max Johnson forced solid saves from Woods in the 75th and 79th minute as Coventry looked for a way back in to the match.
Ant Carney found Jack Samples in the box, but the midfielder, returning from suspension, was expertly denied by Fallows. The inevitable fourth came in the 83rd minute as Bello played a through ball to Webb, who squared across goal, where Guest turned in to his own net. Woods made comfortable saves from speculative long range efforts from Sam Ellis and Jac Redhead to preserve a cleansheet that was credit to a superb defensive effort.
Bello was again denied by the excellent Fallows, tipping his effort over the bar in stoppage time, before Referee Tom Wall ended proceedings at Farley Way. An emphatic 4-0 win for the Reds will see them host Leek Town, who defeated Bedworth United 5-1 at the Oval, in the second qualifying round on Saturday the 23rd of September.