It was a welcome break from league action following back to back defeats for the Green Army, as we travelled to face Coventry Sphinx in the League Cup.

The game started off as a relatively open affair as both teams tried to deploy their game plans, with Coton playing positively on the front foot whilst the hosts looked to utilise the counter attack. It was indeed Coton's early hard work that brought about the first goal of the game. Great trickery down the left hand side by Owen Watkins allowed him to slide through Josh Beeson, who unselfishly played the ball across the box with a lobbed pass to allow debutant Brad Mansell to the head the ball in. The momentum continued in Coton's favour when they notched their second goal within a minute of the first. It was again Watkins who orchestrated the attack, but this time he was the creator of his own goal as he cut in from the left hand side before rifling the ball into the top corner.

There were to be no more goals in the first period, but Coton continued with the attacking impetus throughout and Watkins nearly got his second of the game when he turned the defence before firing a low effort which came back off the post. However he didn't have too long to wait for his second goal when in the 53rd minute Coton were awarded a free kick just outside the box. Watkins powerfully struck kick left the 'keeper with no chance to make it 3-0 to the Green Army. A couple of minutes later the hosts were able to pull a goal back following a long throw in which was directed goalwards and evaded everyone to make it 3-1.

This sparked an immediate response by Coton, as just a minute later Watkins again terrorised down the left hand side before firing a shot across goal which the 'keeper palmed into the path of Mansell to allow the forward to score his second of the game. 10 minutes later Sphinx did secure another lifeline, when a long range free kick looped all the way into the far top corner to make it 4-2, and a potentially interesting game for the last 20 minutes. Coton remained resilient though and weathered the storm, before putting the game out of sight in the 77th minute. Josh Beeson used his pace to get into a good position in the box before being brought down by the 'keeper, allowing Daisy Morris to step up and score the resulting penalty. Coton completed their scoring in the 84th minute when a great counter attack saw Jon Letford through on goal, before selflessly squaring the ball to Jay Henry to tap into the empty net to make it 6-2.

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