COVENTRY SPHINX YOUTH 0-2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST YOUTH BY KEV MONKS
Coventry Sphinx Youth team gave a great account of themselves before going down to a 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Having beaten Alvechurch,Belper,Tamworth and Eccleshall to reach the FA Youth Cup First Round Proper,Coventry Sphinx made the most of their big night.
Sponsors were attracted and assistance provided by Coventry City FC who had Academy Director Steve Ogrizovic, U18's boss Brian Borrows and a host of City U18's players in a large crowd at Sphinx Drive,
John Woodward's side allowed Forest the early pressure. The visitors normally used to playing the likes of Arsenal and Middlesbrough in their FA Premier Academy League matches won three corners early on and took the lead in the 19th minute when James Reid curled in from the edge of the area.
Sphinx refused to lie down and John Woodward's side started to put pressure on the visitors with Thomas Heywood and James Collins both forcing the Forest defence into conceding corners.
Haywood,Gary Mead,Jack Pearson, James Halton and skipper Callum Woodward all tried to get Sphinx going forward in the second half.
Unfortunately, it was to no avail as substitute Liam Hook finished off a neat one-two from twelve yards in the 79th minute and send Forest into a Second Round home tie with Port Vale.
The final whistle saw the Sphinx players despondant but they have been part of an achievement of which everyone associated with Coventry Sphinx can be proud of.
Ht CSFC 0-1 NFFC FT CSFC 0-2 NFFC
Att 405
Goal James Reid (19), Liam Hook (79)
Booked Adam Newbold (23)
Sphinx
1 Ashley Hooker,2 Gary Mead,3 Kyle Courtney,4 Ryan Richards (Ryan Mullholland 71),5 Jack Pearson,6 Thomas Haywood,7 Richard Elliott (Luke Blincow 62),8 James Collins (Michael Wallace 78),9 James Halton,10 Calum Woodward,11 Rich Davies
SNU 15 Ross Knight,17 Robert Lawson
Forest
1 Shane Redmond,2 Corrie Treacy,3 Joe Heath,4 Lewis McGugan (Liam Hook 75), 5 Brendan Maloney,6 Tom Sharpe,7 Ben Fairclough (Kyle Collins 88),8 Matt Thornhill,9 Adam Newbold,10 Ryan Whitehurst (Nialle Rodney 88),11 James Reid
SNU 14 Reece Staples,15 Aaron Mitchell