Coventry Sphinx went down to a 4-1 defeat to Causeway United in a stormy affair this afternoon.
The game played at Stourbridge FC was only eighty seconds old when a free kick was flicked on Matt Webb. Sphinx keeper Callum Harrison partially blocked but the ball fell for Ben Stretton to stroke into the net.
Referee Mr Hill from Telford had already incured the wrath of both sets of supporters and in the ninth minute, he awarded a penalty after Jamie Holmes was hit by a shot from less than a yard away.
No-one in the ground thought it was a penalty but one was given and Danny Cox stepped up to score.
Things went from bad to worse for Paul Charnley's side in the 12th minute when Chris Field was pulled down. Had a penalty been awarded then there would have been few complaints. However, Mr Hill decided the offence was on the edge of the area. Barry Simpson took the kick and fired it into the net.
Causeway closed the midfield down and it was not until the 41st minute that Sphinx had an effort on goal when Jerome's Murdock shot was well saved by Paul Evans.
"Make Sure You Win The Second Half" was Paul Charnley's message to his side at the break and Sphinx were a lot better in a second half that was littered with fouls,bad tackles and afters thanks to the inadequacies of the referee and his assistants.
In the 63rd minute,Sphinx pulled one back thanks to Robbie Stevenson scoring directly from a corner.
There was a bit of a scuffle which as Murdock tried to get the ball out of the net and get on with the game and five minutes later, a melee broke out when Kyle Rhodes was punched in the back of the head.
If there had not been enough problems, the Sphinx bench and support were enraged when Jerome Murdock found himself racially abused by a Causeway spectator in the 77th minute.
With ten minutes to go, Causeway added a fourth goal thanks to a deflection off Terry Ward going into the net.
Ward's afternoon got worse when he was sent off for a second bookable in the last minute after retaliating for an earlier,unpunished foul.
Sphinx have a free week to work on things before they travel to Bewdley in the FA Vase next Saturday.
Locally, Nuneaton Borough won 2-1 at Tamworth in a Conference North game. Rugby Town were held 1-1 at home by Bashley but Bedworth United beat Romulus 3-0 and Leamingon won 2-0 at home to Berkhampsted with both goals scored by Josh Blake.