Report by Martin Sutton.
Any neutral lucky enough to witness this game would have gone home feeling they had tremendous value for their entrance fee. Nine goals, a red card, a sin bin, the lead changing hands, a late equaliser and an even later winner all combined to produce a match packed full of drama. Unfortunately for Sphinx, they were the team to end on the losing side with an added time winner for Hanley ending their interest in this year’s FA Vase competition.
Hanley Town got the goal fest underway with a well taken finish into the bottom corner after 11 minutes but there was no indication of the drama to come. 25 minutes into the game Sphinx were gifted the opportunity to equalise after the referee appeared to spot a handball in the penalty area. Captain Callum WOODWARD stepped up to fire in the penalty and level up the scores. On the stroke of half time Sphinx edged in front with a quick-fire attack. The route to goal was opened up with an accurate header from Iyseden Christie picking out Lawrence Rawlings who then slipped a lovely ball through to Ryan Harkin. The keeper rushed out of the penalty area to intervene but HARKIN was first to the ball and slotted it past the keeper and into the empty net. Sphinx went into half time with the lead and after conceding early they would have been pleased with that.
The second half was a matter of minutes old when Hanley equalised and that was the trigger for Hanley to go on to have a good spell. That spell was fully capitalised on with Hanley regaining the lead just before the hour mark. Sphinx then made their first substitution with new signing Randane Larmond replacing veteran striker Iyseden Christie. Minutes later, an incident near the touchline resulted in a straight red card for a Hanley player which must have given Sphinx some encouragement but they went further behind in the 72nd minute with Hanley making it 4-2. A double substitution followed for Sphinx with a midfielder and a striker replacing a midfielder and a defender as Sphinx went all out to find a way back into the game. Kavanagh had only been on the pitch for a few minutes when a clumsy challenge by the keeper brought him down on the by-line and the referee was pointing to the spot again. Callum WOODWARD stepped up again and although the keeper got a good hand to it, he couldn’t stop the ball going in and Sphinx had pegged the deficit back to one goal. More controversy followed with the referee awarding Sphinx an indirect free kick in the penalty area after he decided that the Hanley keeper had taken too long to release the ball. The ball was nudged sideways and Lewis NOON powered in the equaliser with just three minutes left on the clock. We looked to be heading for extra time but there was time for more drama with Hanley breaking and delivering the fatal blow in added time to send Sphinx out of the FA Vase.
A game full of incident and drama with the referee at the centre of the majority of it. In addition to all that was already covered, Mark Albrighton had a 14 minute spell in the sin bin and a Sphinx attack was abruptly halted so the referee could issue a red card to a member of the Hanley management team. An incredible game that is not likely to be repeated any time soon.
Sphinx are back to MFL Premier Division action on Saturday with a trip to Newark on the agenda.

COVENTRY SPHINX TEAM: CROSS, WHITELAW (Noon 77 mins), TUFAN, KAY, ALBRIGHTON, GUEST, RAWLINGS, BILIC (Kavanagh 77 mins), CHRISTIE (Larmond 62 mins), WOODWARD, HARKIN,
Unused Subs: Howard, Billing, Whitmore, Faulkner
MAN OF THE MATCH: LAWRENCE RAWLINGS
Loz was full of running as usual and he was the most persistent threat Sphinx had.