WEATHERED SPHINX... (My poem about my first desolate visit to Coventry Sphinx's soccer ground in November 2009. It is now a really smart venue...)

 Weathered Sphinx…

Heavy rain lashed through floodlit angle

Of shelter and stanchion,

Rasping upon glistening dugout roofs, 

Drenching already sodden grass.

Collars were turned up,

Hoods tugged over heads,

Shoulders became tense and 

Aspirations were shattered like brittle glass.

Strong gale rushed across exposed stage

Of tenure and desolation,

Rattling upon corrugated shed’s metal,

Halting hurriedly punted kicks.

Passes were teased awry,

Deliveries twirled off course,

Accuracy became lax and

Creativity was reduced to not taking risks…

Pete Ray…

Coventry Sphinx’s ground in Coventry, on a cold, windy, squally evening in November 2009. 

The, er, grandstand was shaking like a leaf. 

Loved it…

Sphinx beat Barwell in a cup-tie, after extra-time by 2-1, before a cold crowd of 91…

A difficult wind, blowing across the pitch, probably diagonally too, failed to dull the ambitions of two teams which attempted to pass the ball whenever possible but to be honest, little excitement was created over the 120 minutes of endeavour. 

Barwell’s weakened team began well, succumbed to an unnecessary penalty, became embroiled in a niggling, caution-riddled second-half, which kept the referee’s assessor’s pen scribbling and suffered the indignity of seeing Michael Hayden dismissed for two bookable offences and he was maybe unfortunate, as two or three other offenders could easily have walked too. 

As penalties seemed certain, Thornton, the most gifted player on view, despite a seemingly inextinguishable smirk, curled a superb free-kick past the leaping Barwell ‘keeper, Castle to settle the tie, despite the Cunnington-inspired Barwell’s promising overtime period. 

The wind battered the shed I stood in, the Barwell coach marched his players into a corner for an on-field dressing-down at the end and Thornton dusted off his gloves, forgetting all about the strains and pains from which he had previously appeared to be suffering…