COVENTRY SPHINX 4-0 FOLLY LANE: WHAT HAPPENED, ILLUSTRATED...

It Was A Folly To Leave Bridges Room To Shoot…

Coventry Sphinx 4-0 Folly Lane

I was on the M40 and was soon overtaken by a vehicle with the following registration: KN18LCC and it reminded me of the name of Sphinx’s manager, Lee Knibbs… Was it him? Was I to follow him to the match? Er, no.

However, this game seemed like an old boys’ reunion… Ex-Coalville Raven Callum Woodward, now a Sphinxman, waved a greeting, I nattered to Coventry manager Lee Knibbs, whose car I had not seen on the M40, plus ex-Barwell player Scott Lower. Then I spotted Lewis Hudson, ex-Warwick Racer, plus last season’s GNP stalwarts, Leigh Phillips and the irrepressible Josh O’Grady. Sam Wanless was also at GNP early last season and he came over to chat for a while, which was decent of him. Louis Bridges was there too, ex-Alcester and he would prove to be the undoing of Folly Lane. But then I realised that Sphinxman number 4 was indeed Jamie Towers, whose Barwell pen-picture in their match programmes some years back suggested that he felt that the lives of Leamington’s women had become deflated when he had left the Brakes to join the Canaries of Barwell… And I took the piss out of a hat he once wore on a typically dark and cold night at Sphinx Drive… Towers and Bridges in the same team? Really?

LEIGH PHILLIPS BIFURCATES HIS LEGS...

I have listed both squads below, although the Sphinx list might be short of a couple of replacements. Sadly, despite a kind message from Folly Lane with names and positions of players, the guy was unsure which numbers they wore last night and so I have had to use those numbers in my report for the most part… Apologies…

STEVE NESDEN: A REWARDING EVENING...

For this game the pitch was hard, the grass was like thin, wiry wheat and the encounter was doubtless a means of looking at players and also increasing fitness. Yeah, right… Players just want to win… Folly Lane, the Follies, were always going to be up against it though, for Sphinx fielded some strong performers and although the visitors scrapped, managed a good number of blocks and tackles, even missing a penalty and firing in a couple of shots themselves, they were well beaten. It was thanks to their powerful goalie Steve Nesden that the defeat was limited to four goals, for he made a number of fine saves, some of which were unorthodox. Nesden was built like the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, or perhaps like a defensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers and his punches, leg-saves and very huge presence offered his team some respite from the number of opportunities created by a dominant Coventry outfit.

JOSH O'GRADY PASSES A YOUNG ROY KEANE...

The Follies were kindly awarded a penalty at 0-2 down but the number 12, who has since been identified as Steve Maddox rolled his low spot-kick to the left of ‘keeper Jack Tregartha, whose dive produced a save and then the gloveman’s evasive leap forced the Follyman to shove his rebound behind the goal-frame at the right stick. No other chances went the way of the Follies before the short half-time break. Coventry though, amassed quite a number and of course Bridges netted three of them although he also missed another three. He side-footed a neat left-side centre by scurrying colleague Nathan McGarrity well off target from 6 yards and saw another 6 yarder deflected too high by a defender although the referee failed to appreciate the diversion. His goals were all scored from close range however and they were clinically dispatched.

MESSI, RONALDO & MADDOX HAVE ALL MISSED SPOT-KICKS RECENTLY...

PHILLIPS DOING WHAT HE DOES.
CAN PLAY ON EITHER FLANK TOO...

First he glanced a gentle header into the left corner of the net from McGarrity’s cross, then rammed a low right-footer into goal after McGarrity had been fed by Towers and had made a penetrating, if roundabout rush towards the left byeline. The hat-trick goal stemmed from a classic O’Grady assist. The elusive O’Grady swivelled on the right byeline and somehow squeezed past Folly Lane’s defender 6, far more easily than he can now squeeze into his Presentation Evening waistcoat and subsequently slipped a clever pass inside for Bridges. At the edge of the 6 yard box, Bridges feinted just as Nesden ploughed towards him and flung himself forth like he was bombing into an Ibiza swimming pool. Bridges thus had an open shot and he fired a rising effort high into the Folly goal. Nesden was totally fooled and fell backwards onto the spiky turf like he had fainted, not feinted…

0-1: BRIDGES...

0-2: BRIDGES...

0-3: BRIDGES...

SEEMS THE SPHINXMEN HAVE HEARD THAT PATRICK SUFFO IS STILL WEARING JAY-JAY OKOCHA'S TRACK-TOP...

Thus by the break it was 3-0 to the Sphinxmen. More goals could and perhaps should have been added, for an early Towers shot had been diverted for a corner which then fell to Towers 8 yards out and his rasping low drive struck Nesden’s shins. O’Grady was denied from 22 yards by a deflection, before the impressive Phillips released McGarrity and what followed was soccer comedy worthy of mention. Nesden advanced, McGarrity’s control failed but the ball rolled between the sprawling goalie’s legs, completely wrong-footing the Sphinx forward. Nesden’s body nudged the loose ball sideways and Follyman 10 was forced into desperate action to get it away. 

HUDSON BATTLES, WHILST O'GRADY HOPES HE WON'T HAVE TO HEAD THE BALL AGAIN...

GUESS WHERE HIS PACKED LUNCH IS STASHED?

JAMIE TOWERS OVER OPPONENTS...

Phillips and Towers combined to set up Jacob Dodds at the left upright but his control deserted him, Phillips fed McGarrity for a clever back-heel to Bridges whose low drive smacked against the falling Nesden and finally, Towers shot wide from 25 yards. Half-time arrived, the players stayed on the touchlines and I was treated to a ‘lively’ team-talk by the Folly coach…

"WHO ARE YOU?"
"I'M CROSS."
"HAVE I UPSET YOU?"

THE RESTART...

Replacements were constantly arriving onfield after the break, although a strong start to the second period by Folly saw a shot by 14 rise too high and then a goal disallowed. Follyman 3 had got clear to beat goalie substitute Tom Cross but he was flagged offside. Later, shots by 10 and 9 for the guests went fairly close, Cross tipping 10’s effort over the goal-frame and 9’s clipped effort curling wide of the right angle of post and crossbar. 

OFFSIDE...

Certainly Coventry took a while to settle again but with rapid forward T’ahje Smith in attack, Sphinx looked lively at times. His low left-foot centre was kicked away like a frustrated right-back by Nesden, a pass by Phillips released Bridges but he lost control of the ball, perhaps wondering what unusual action Nesden would employ on that occasion. He fell on the ball, actually… Sphinxman Aaron Donaldson then rammed a 15 yard shot from inside-left onto the base of the near upright, only for the rebound to cannon off him for a goal-kick. Following a poor Nesden kick, Phillips skied a shot after a neat one-two with Smith, before O’Grady, back in the action after a break, tumbled under a challenge by Follyman 4 right at the edge of the 18 yard box and the main official awarded a penalty. Smith shoved that into the bottom right corner of the net and the scoring was ended.

4-0 NOW...

SMITH THE SCORER...

McGarrity was denied by those flailing Nesden legs, a Rhys Deehan header from a corner was deflected off target, Nesden scrabbled across the dust to push away a low creeper by O’Grady and from the ensuing short corner by O’Grady, the lively Donaldson’s rising 19 yard drive was beaten away by Nesden like he was defending himself from a particularly annoying and invasive fruit bat. It remained only for O’Grady to shoot wide and for Nesden’s Follyshins to keep out a low shot by the now more effective Dodds, before the frustrating referee allowed us all to go home for a mug of tea and a slice of fruit cake. 

"WILL YOU STOP DAMAGING DE FENCE..."

Hard toil by the visitors and a more effective second period would have pleased their coaches, who felt that their efforts had deserved a goal. The number 8 in midfield looked neat on occasions and the central defenders were obviously busy but also vociferous, constantly willing colleagues to give more.

Sphinx surely would have been pleased that a forward nabbed a trio of goals, also that Phillips looked so smart much of the time on the right flank and that McGarrity was a speedy thorn in attack and probably deserved a goal, in truth. Compact and dependable skipper Aaron Stringfellow did well enough, Hudson scrapped at left-back but in fairness, central defenders Jackson Downie and Deehan were rarely stretched. Replacement Chris Johnson rapped a couple of thoughtful passes forward and the controlled Towers showed his higher level quality on occasions. Neither goalie was really taxed…

And so to O’Grady… It was interesting to see him playing a deep central role but when he created the third goal, he was in his element, moving so dangerously inside to cause the Follymen real anguish. He really can divide defences, bifurcating them like a chain-saw through saplings… (I was challenged to get ‘bifurcating’ into my match report, so there you have it…) His flag-kicks were decent too, three of which were punched clear by Nesden, like he was on a Spanish beach playing volleyball with other perspiring UK holidaymakers. 

Me? I needed that mug of strong tea and fruit cake… 

Didn’t we all?

SQUADS:

COVENTRY SPHINX:

JACK TREGARTHA, AARON STRINGFELLOW (CAPT), LEWIS HUDSON, JAMIE TOWERS, RHYS DEEHAN, JACKSON DOWNIE, LEIGH PHILLIPS, JOSH O’GRADY, NATHAN McGARRITY, LOUIS BRIDGES, JACOB DODDS, REECE STOWE, T’AHJE SMITH, AARON DONALDSON, CHRIS JOHNSTON.

FOLLY LANE:

STEVE NESDEN, STEVE BRADEN, ROSS KNIGHT, LEE GRAHAM, LUIS BELDON, JORDAN BANNISTER, STEVE MADDOX, ADAM WELLAND, TROY DIXON, MICHAEL BAWDEN, HARRY JACKMAN, STEVE MINARD, JAMIE HARVEY, JASON HOLLOWAY, JAMES HUGHES, CALLUM MAGUIRE.