Sphinx Club Friendly Tuesday July 1st 2014
Coventry Sphinx v Nuneaton Griff
The background to this game is as bizarre as the route we took to the game. Most people support a team because of many reason:
Local team (me and Boston United)
Family connections (Dad and Sheffield Utd)
You have a liking to that place (was keen on Monaco due to being a fan of the Monaco GP)
You drew them in a raffle in Year 10 German (Aachen)
You feel sorry for them (East Stirling)
You’re a glory hunter (any Chelsea fans)
Or because you’re not right mentally (Man Utd).
But to have ties with a team because they have a cool sounding name is an odd one. But Nuneaton Griff is one of the better names and Nick & I felt we had to see a game at some point. Last year, they came 3rd in the Midland Football Combination Premier (Level 10). They were away at Coventry Sphinx, who are in the Midland Football Alliance (Level 9) and the self proclaimed biggest club playing in Coventry (due to the fiasco at City)
Nick had booked time off work to go and see the Griff and after catching the 1541 train to Birmingham, the temperatures rose as I had to dash from Platform 12 to 4a in 8 minutes. I got there as Nick’s packed out train bound for Bournemouth rolled in and could not get to the front of the queue to get a seat. We were left to stand in packed exits for 25 minutes as the train rattled towards Coventry.
Upon our arrival there at 5:30- 60 mins before kick off, I brought out my trusty hand drawn maps to guide us along the 1.9 mile walk through a place I’d never been to before. Easy.
The JoshJosh Map
Upon heading right out of the station, we quickly realized we didn’t really know where we were going but despite the worst pavements and the worst road crossings I’ve seen for ages, we made it to Puma way still in tact.
But then we got to a roundabout and we went left. The problem was, we didn’t go round the roundabout and continue eastwards, we were headed north. We went under a main road and thought we were on track and it was only when we didn’t cross a small river did we start to think we’d made an error. Nick got out his G.oogle maps app and told me we were in the right direction so we continued in the wrong direction.
It was only when we got right into a grim estate did we really think we’d gone wrong so we stopped to have a look. Yes, we were about a mile and a half from the ground still, heading north!
How badly we got lost. The route we took in yellow, the planned route in blue
So we followed some busy roads to get to the ground and by the time we eventually got to the Sphinx Club, the game had just kicked off. Still, there was no entry charge and the prices for bottles were reasonable (80p for a Lucozade, £1 for a can) and the teams were playing on a reserve pitch- the main pitch had rugby posts up.
Perched against the dugouts of the main pitch, we saw teams kicking off. Luckily, the Griff keeper encouraged his team to keep it up, so we assumed Griff had taken an early lead and were in Red.
Sphinx Club- main pitch
First half action shot
There were no teamsheeets so as I write, I have no idea of any names but Griff took the game to the hosts early on and almost went 2 up but the ball would not quite drop as the striker looked to prod past the onrushing Sphinx keeper.
However, Coventry burst into life around the half hour, but it took a poor Griff pass to launch their attack in which a beautiful 20 yard curler went in via the inside of the left hand post. Moments later, more slack passing by Griff allowed Coventry to attack down their left and from a floated cross, some poor marking allowed the Sphinx man an unchallenged header 8 yards out and he picked his spot in the corner to turn the game around.
There was almost a comedy own goal as an attempted backpass went beyond the onrushing Griff goalie but narrowly wide of the post. But arguable the goal of the game came from Sphinx to net their 3rd just before half time as following a set play, a couple of scuffed efforts didn’t get through the bodies in the way, but it fell to the Number 7 who, from a tight angle on the left smashed home a thunderous volley into the roof of the net.
It was only a very quick half time break, with both teams being given instructions on the pitch- albeit none of the Phil Brown, Man City antics! Initially, Coventry looked like adding to their tally with one effort being cleared off the line and another going inches wide, but the Griff grew into the game a bit more and reduced the arrears with a harmless shot being deflected beyond the keeper. Griff had a good spell of the ball, but ultimately, failed to calve out any real chances and the 2 goal lead was restored with 15 minutes to go as the visitors’ defence failed to pick up the Sphinx player, who swept the ball into the net from 18 yards.
The scoring was then completed with 6 minutes left as Coventry made use of a set piece to finish off after a spell of pressure.
The full time whistle blew quite early, but it was a reasonably exciting match, both teams will no doubt look to iron out errors in what was the clubs’ first games of preseason. I don’t think the Griff were 3 goals worse than Coventry but they made their pressure tell and the Griff didn’t early on.
So from there it was a taxi back to the station- no walking this time as we both had trains to get. For Nick, it was the 2042 directly home and for me, a tortuous 2 hour 20 minute slog via Nuneaton and Leicester, with lengthy stops at both. So bad was the box between Coventry & Nuneaton, I was only going past the Ricoh arena as Nick’s train thundered into Birmingham.
So I’ve seen the Griff, we’ll probably want to catch a home game at some point and being so close to both of us, it’ll happen sooner I imagine. Just need to use preseason to iron out my map drawing errors. JoshJosh 0-1 TomTom
Attendance: Approx 60
Rating: 8/10
Crowd shot
Next up- Saturday (5th July) it is a trip to Buxton to see them host Chesterfield. My first time there and another train route to tick off too.
Thanks for reading
Josh
Under The Floodlights 