Coventry Sphinx provided a reminder of their capabilities last night despite the one goal defeat at Nuneaton Borough. At the weekend they suffered a heavy defeat at home and they had to handle some justified criticism but they responded with a display packed full of hard work and character to push Nuneaton all the way to the end.

Youth team keeper Jude O’Connor continued to deputise for Tom Cross and he was joined by youth team mates Jamie Draper and Harvey Billing in the starting line up. Vice Captain Louis Guest returned from suspension and was joined by club captain Liam Kay in defence. Randane Larmond and Lewis Noon also returned to the starting line up. The youthful look of the team was balanced out with some quality experience from the likes of Guest, Kay and Woodward.

In times of trouble the first thing to address is the defensive shape of the team and last night the setup of the team worked perfectly. The management make those decisions but the players executed it well with a desire to trust the manager combined with their desire to work hard. They played with a tremendous team ethic and proved to themselves that they are a tough team to beat when they apply themselves as well as they did last night.

Nuneaton had most of the play as expected but the organisation of the Sphinx defensive play kept them out. Although Sphinx rode their luck at times, there were no doubts that effort had been rewarded with a clean sheet going into the break. A tremendous long range strike from Alex Henshall gave the hosts the lead on the hour mark and the next test of character came with going a goal behind. Were Sphinx going to cave in? Were they going to lose their shape and discipline to chase the game? The answer was a resounding NO as they continued to believe in what they were doing out on the pitch. More young players were introduced and they were straight into the pace of game and helped ensure that Nuneaton were never totally comfortable on their one goal lead.

Nuneaton deserved the win but the Sphinx performance was excellent against a team two leagues above them. There are a huge amount of positives to take out of the game for Coventry Sphinx. To perform that well when it would have been easy to disappear into a shell has to be applauded and applause was exactly what they got from the travelling Sphinx contingent. The next task is to make that type of performance the norm now and provide that consistency to their game. I have every confidence they are capable of that.

Unused Subs: Caputo, Pearson

MAN OF THE MATCH: LOUIS GUEST

1. Jude O’Connor - Brave, decisive and confident sums up his performance. Excellent from the young man.

2. Patsun Tufan - Developing well after impressing in last season’s Youth team. Worked hard on the right of the defence and never shirked a challenge.

3. Charlie McConnachie - Settling in well after joining from the Aston Villa academy. His tenacity and willing running resulted in arguably his best game for the club.

4. Jamie Draper - A warrior like performance from the youngster. Affected by cramp, he dug in and produced the performance of a man.

5. Louis Guest - An inspiration at the back and led by example. MAN OF THE MATCH.

6. Liam Kay - His class showed through and added organisation and leadership to the defence

7. Harvey Billing - The young man worked hard in midfield and didn’t look out of place.

8. Callum Woodward - The skipper was back on form and marshalled the midfield as well as you would expect.

9. Randane Larmond - Worked equally as hard on and off the ball and never gave the defence a moment’s peace.

10. Lawrence Rawlings - Graft is taken for granted from Loz and he was an important part of the defending from the front ethos. Always looking to provide an attacking threat when the opportunity arose.

11. Lewis Noon - Returned to the side and put in a tremendous shift in the Sphinx midfield.

14. Iyseden Christie - Introduced late on as Sphinx went looking for an equaliser

16. Max Howard - Last year’s Youth team skipper never lets you down. He’d tackle a brick wall if you asked him to and his midfield presence gave us fresh legs when we needed it.

17. Dan Kelly - The youth team striker got about the front line well and was more than willing to help out defensively.