Worcester City 4-0 Coventry Sphinx
Sphinx: O'Neill, Wright. (Downie 64), Hill (Atkins 64), Baxter (sent off 59), Fletcher, Fowler, Galdings, Bannister, Wilkes (Knight 70), Murdoch, Dainty. Subs Sullivan, Sockett, Dyke, Bilic.
Worcester: Veiga, Hutchison, Deeney, Thorley, Munday, Khan, Thompson, Taundry (Nelson-Eddy 77), Nti, A.Williams (D.Williams 84), Glover. Subs Smith, Whitehead, Rooney, Lemmon, Sergeant.
HT WCFC 1-0 CSFC FT WCFC 4-0 CSFC
ATT 514
Goals Richard Taundry 28, Niallt Thompson 79, Daniel Nti 85, James Lemmon 89.
Referee Matt Jones. Assts Adam Dean & Greg Rollason
Sent off Baxter 59
Booked Taundry, Nti, Fletcher
------------------------------
Coventry Sphinx battled brilliantly but went out of the FA Cup with a 4-0 defeat at Worcester City.
For this FA Cup tie, Luke Hopkins fielded the same Sphinx team which had beaten Tividale in the FA Vase last Saturday.
Carl Heeley's whose testimonial game was against Coventry City, took no chances and fielded a strong side against a side three divisions below the Conference North side including keeper Jose Veiga who has played for the likes of Levante and has 30 caps for Cape Verde.
There were plenty of Sphinx supporters inside Aggborough for this game on a cloudy afternoon to hear songs by The Selector and The Enemy blasted out before kick off.
Inside the opening 25 seconds, Gio Dainty headed at Veiga for Sphinx in their red away kit. Danny Glover headed wide but in the 12th minute, Jerome Murdock got into the area and curled a shot which hit the junction between the bar and the post on Veiga's right hand post.
Six minutes later and Kiam Galdings worked well to played the ball back to Murdock who struck Veiga's left hand post.
Sphinx got the ball back and Kyle Baxter ran and fired in a shot which Veiga had to push over for a corner. That was cleared and Worcester attacked down the left forcing O'Neill to push over for a corner which the always dependable Ricky Fletcher helped to clear away.
Against the run of play, Worcester took the lead in the 28th minute when a Nti cross was twice half cleared and fell to Richard Taundry who drilled a low shot from 20 yards into the bottom corner of the net.
In the 35th minute, Veiga pushed away a free kick and City broke through Daniel Nti. The former Loughborough Uni player dragged his shot wide before a Sphinx free kick was headed wide.
Fletcher made a good blocking tackle and Murdoch applied more pressure on Veiga as the half ended with Sphinx losing but giving more than a good account of themselves.
Sphinx had a 53rd minute corner but Mr Jones from the Worcester RA blew up for a foul on Veiga.
Just before the hour mark, Luke Hopkins side were reduced to ten men when Kyle Baxter kicked out and was sent off by the referee who only cautioned Taundry for his part in the ensuing melee.
Hopkins went for a double switch in the 64th minute taking off two defenders and resorting to a back three, who were under pressure when Williams swept wide.
Youth Teamer Ross Knight joined the Sphinx attack in place of Wilks for the last twenty minutes in what was a full blooded contest which should have nipped in the bud by a poor referee a lot earlier in the match.
Taundry fired a low 73rd minute free kick at O'Neill before debutant Niall Thompson fired in a shot from the right to win a corner.
Taundry had just been replaced when Worcester doubled their lead in the 79th minute when Niall Thompson who had a fine game, marked it with a lovely goal from the edge of the area which flew high into the net.
In the 85th minute, Worcester really had booked their place in the third qualifying round when Daniel Nti got inside the area and smashed a shot into the net and that was compounded in the 89th minute when substitute James Lemmon did exactly the same after jinking his way into the area to send Sphinx to a 4-0 defeat, that they did not deserve.