Kirkham in the Vase at Coventry

The FA Vase quarter final between Kirkham & Wesham and Coventry Sphinx at Kellamergh Park on 1st March was one of the best games I’ve seen this season. Extra time, six goals, near misses, and generally a game that was an absolute credit to non-league football.

With the replay scheduled to take place one week later in the Midlands, there was no way I was missing out on a second chance to watch the same two teams in action, with a place in the FA Vase semi final at stake.

So it was that I set off with League Management Committee member and Ashton Town chairman Ian Williams down the M6 to Coventry (I should point out that Ian generously offered to drive, although the fact that he has been a passenger in my car before might have had something to do with that).

After coming off the M6 and passing the impressive looking Ricoh Arena, we weaved our way along a dual carriageway and through a few backstreets to Sphinx Sports Ground in Sphinx Drive, home of Coventry Sphinx. The club forms the football section of a Sports and Social Club, with cricket, bowls and tennis also catered for, and all the sports are housed in an impressive club house that comprises several bars, function rooms and changing facilities.

Ian parked in his designated car park space and I was immediately made to feel at home when the car park attendant in his Sphinx jacket had a Scottish accent broader than mine. We made our way into the clubhouse, picked up our tickets and passes to the sponsors lounge, where we promptly met another Scot decked out in a Sphinx club tie and jacket. We get everywhere.

A delightful lady called Rose sorted us out with cups of coffee and pointed out that for the first time ever, she had been given a mention in the match programme alongside the other club officials. Her friendly welcome was matched by that from other Sphinx officials, most of whom we recognised from the previous week at Kellamergh Park. It’s moments like those that make me feel so fortunate to have discovered non-league football.

Shortly afterwards Dave Tomlinson arrived, hot foot from a ground grading visit to Trafford’s Shawe View ground earlier in the morning. The room began to fill up as Kirkham & Wesham officials, and guys wearing blazers carrying the FA badge on the pocket joined the throng, and once two o’clock passed and I had had my fill of the buffet and coffee, I decided to head off into the ground to get team sheets and take a few snaps for posterity.

I suppose the impressive club house had led me to expect an equally impressive stadium, but I’m afraid I was disappointed. It pains me to say that, given the hospitality we enjoyed, but there’s no point in disguising the truth. The football pitch adjoins the cricket pitch and there is no hard standing or wall to separate the two.

The nearest North West examples I can think of are Maghull in the Liverpool County Combination, or perhaps Eagley in the West Lancashire League, but in the latter case certainly there is at least an obvious boundary sectioning off one from the other. In the case of the Sphinx Sports and Social Club there is a wide expanse of continuous grass, and the “hard standing” around most of the side of the pitch is in fact interlocking plastic trackway, which can be lifted up and put down at will.

Having established there were no actual turnstiles, I passed through the open gate manned by two stewards and surveyed the inside of the ground. The familiar figures of Kirkham & Wesham Press Officer Howard Jones and BBC Radio Lancashire’s Simon Sandiford were seated under a garden pagoda that was the press box for the day, the temporary structure showing dodgy resistance when being buffeted in the strong wind.

Having collecting the team details, I was immediately accosted by two ground hoppers who seemed to take an eternity to copy the details into their notebooks. They finally got all the info they needed, and I then set off on a stroll round the pitch perimeter to take a few snaps. As I surveyed the wide open spaces, I looked forward to asking Dave Tomlinson if a club with similar ground facilities would be allowed into our league.

The only cover in the entire ground was down one side of the pitch where a covered enclosure had a section of seats. This was named the Willie Knibbs Stand, and a quick glance at the club history revealed that Willie Knibbs was Sphinx first team manager in season 2001/02, who was tragically killed in a car accident a few months into his first season in charge when returning from a cup game at Meir KA. I noted in the programme that not only was Lee Knibbs the current reserve team manager, Adam Knibbs was lining up in the number three jersey, so the family representation at the club is obviously still strong.

Other than the combined stand and enclosure, the ground was completely open. Other features included no toilets, and the protected players walkway was a temporary affair comprising crush barrier type fencing that led from the clubhouse, round the side of the car park and into the ground. Total time for players to leave the dressing room and walk onto the pitch I’d estimate to be about 30 seconds to a minute. Good practice if either made it to Wembley for the final.

The arrival of the players on the pitch thankfully meant that the ear bursting PA system – provided through mobile DJ speakers and not a permanent PA system – was turned off. I’m not just getting old, I actually quite like my music loud, but in this instance the welcome silence was broken only by the sound of the resultant tinnitus in my ears. The referee sounded his whistle and we were off and away.

It would have been difficult for the game to match the heights of the first game at Kellamergh Park the previous week – and it didn’t. The swirling wind and bumpy pitch hampered both sides’ attempt to play football, and despite a crowd of 774 containing plenty of local support, a rather muted atmosphere matched a dull first half which produced only two chances of note, one at each end.

In one of several quieter moments, I asked Dave Tomlinson for his thoughts on the ground. His response was short, sharp and to the point - “They wouldn’t get in our league”.

As half time approached, the combined effect of being exposed to the blustery wind for almost an hour and the thought of Rose serving up a hot cup of coffee in the sponsors lounge set me wandering off towards the exit. As the half time whistle signalled I headed up the mass exodus of spectators from the ground, across the car park and into the club house. The two burger vans parked inside the ground offered smaller queues for those willing to remain exposed to the elements.

A warming cuppa later, I decided that shelter in the stand was a better bet for the second half, and that gave me an excellent view of what turned out to be the only game of the game four minutes into the second half.

Phil Blackwell’s through ball sent Sean Paterson clean through on goal, and as the home defenders appealed for offside, the former Blackpool man tucked the ball into the net under the advancing keeper to put Kirkham & Wesham one up.

Within 90 seconds Sphinx almost equalised, Kirkham keeper Pete Summerfield recating quickly to push a Jack Cudworth header on to the bar. Thereafter, the game was a much livelier affair, with chances at both ends. On the hour mark, Mick Horsfall almost grabbed a second for Kirkham, when his shot after a mazy run was blocked by the outstretched foot of Sphinx keeper Ashley Hooker

As the game wore on, the home side began to exert more pressure, and with 13 minutes remaining Kirkham & Wesham had a lucky escape when Richie Allen tripped Sphinx striker Rob Stevenson as he headed for goal. The offence appeared to take place inside the penalty area, but to the fury of the home players and spectators, the referee awarded a free kick outside the area.

In the last minute, there was a similar incident at the other end when Kirkham’s Mark Wane was halted by a challenge from behind on the edge of the box when he was through on goal. Had he been a bit more central, the Coventry defender could have been looking at a red card, but he escaped with a yellow.

The fourth official signalled four minutes of stoppage time, but by my reckoning we were going into the eight minute of added time when the referee finally called a halt. Celebration and dejection in equal measures were visible on the pitch, and the noisy Kirkham & Wesham travelling support, who had been in fine form throughout, gave their team a standing ovation.

Interviewing chairman Dai Davis and manager Mick Fuller afterwards was obviously a pleasant experience, although the natural delight at seeing our club go through had to be tempered with restraint as the very pleasant and hospitable home officials couldn’t conceal their disappointment. All the talk was about a local photographer who apparently had a clear picture of the penalty-that-wasn’t-but-should-have-been.

Mick Fuller had been accosted about the incident at the end of the game: “One of their guys came straight over to me immediately after the final whistle and said they had the incident on film. I just said “See you later and thanks for your hospitality”.

You can’t argue with that as a response.

Thoughts began to turn to Needham Market – where it was, what they were like as a team, and how they represented the final hurdle on the road to Wembley. But that was another story.

Sphinx Sports Ground - click to enlarge images

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