Coventry Sphinx beat Coventry Copsewood 4-2 this evening in a pre-season fixture.
This was a keenly fought contest between the two sides less than a mile apart and one that had a minute's silence to mark the anniversary of the death of former player Paul "Pongo" John.
It was Danny McSheffrey's side which started with former Coventry City players Craig Pead and Tom Cudworth, who took the lead in the 13th minute when an excellent move saw a number of passes before Luke Hopkins held the ball and laid it off for Robbie Stevenson to deliver a pinpoint ball for Hopkins now inside the area to smash high into the net.
Luke Hopkins (9)
There was more to cheer for the Sphinx support in the 28th minute after Ross Perkins had been cautioned for a deliberate handball when a superbly timed ball from Josh Ruff cut through the Midland Combination Premier Division side's defence and picked out Tom Muldoon who slipped the ball past the keeper for the second goal.
Sphinx had led 2-0 at Heather St John on Saturday and were pegged back and within three minutes of going two goals up, Copsewood had reduced the arrears when Curtis Jackson headed home a free kick.
Carl Nolan's side had the better of the play early in the second period and were level in the 62nd minute thanks to Peta Jon Gordon stroking the ball past Chris Daffern.
Sphinx who had made changes upped their game and parity was ended in the 69th minute when Josh Ruff who had a fine game, scored with an eighteen yard shot that gave the keeper no chance.
Josh Ruff (10)
More changes for Sphinx followed before Daffern was forced into an excellent save two minutes from time when a Gordon shot came back off the post.
In stoppage time, a good night's work was wrapped up by Sphinx who are home to Massey Ferguson on Saturday when Craig Pead hit a shot from the edge of the area which bounced past the keeper and into the net to send the Sphinx support home happy with victory over their local rivals.
