Coventry Sphinx Bench Talk
Saturday 27 September 2003

Welcome to everyone from Coventry Sphinx for this afternoon's fixture here at Tally Ho. With us both being up at the top end of the table it should prove to be a close encounter.

After our excellent start we have had a disappointing fortnight which has seen us lose three and draw one. Whilst the depletion of the squad and the multitude of changes that have had to be made clearly has had an impact upon our performances, we have not helped ourselves by making some silly defensive errors during this period.

We are starting to get some of the injured players back into the side and their levels of fitness and match sharpness is slowly returning. Last Tuesday's defeat at home to Feckenham was self-inflicted with us giving them two soft goals and whilst I accept they played the better football they created few scoring opportunities. It was galling for us to have a last-minute equaliser chalked off for offside, particularly, as one of the most impartial of individuals you can get, informed me that both the scorer and the player on the far post were on-side when the ball was played into the box. Still, that's football.

What it did show was that the spirit within the team is first class. We battled to the end with Neil Fletcher scoring at the far post from a corner with four minutes to go and then had the late effort chalked off for offside. We do, however, have to cut out the silly defensive errors.

On the brighter side we saw Richard Frost make his full debut for the team and score with a first half header. He has impressed us already and now we just have to increase his availability. Paul Probert has now got two games under his belt following his absence through damaged ribs and Mark Bellingham got his first game under his belt following his return from injury and will be all the better for it. Carl Hancox is now available to play regularly and he too will have benefited from 90 minutes on Tuesday as will Mickey Hart who had just returned from holiday.

Mike Mason, Ollie Latchford, Gavin Smith and Wayne Healey are available for today. I am waiting to hear from Lyndon Price, Ian Millward and Martin Slattery on their fitness.

The news on the injury front re other players is mixed. Richard Cox is out for a minimum of 7 more days with his back injury and Mark Langley for at least another 4 weeks with his knee ligament damage. Steve Piearce may be available within a week and we still don't know when Dave Blake will be fit. His groin injury has seen him miss the entire season thus far.

Lee Wharmby was/is expecting (hoping!) to get the all clear yesterday to resume playing next week on the long road back from his cruciate operation. It will be great to have him back on board. Neil Tiller goes into hospital on the 3rd October for an operation on his knee and will be out of the game for 4 months. We wish him all the very best. Andy Reece is on his holidays and will be available for selection after the 7th October.

We need to get the show back on the road today. We hope that you all enjoy the game.

Jim Scott