Wolves Women 3 (Brackenbury 42, Quick 58, Whetton 69)
Sporting Khalsa 0
Tim Dudding's first league game in charge ended with a comfortable victory for Wolves Women against local rivals, Sporting Khalsa Women, at a sunny Keys Park.
Wolves Women had the first chance to take the lead in the first minute after the ball was played into Jade Cross in the box who took a touch and hit it but shot straight at the keeper.
Wolves’ next chances came in the 5th and 6th minutes, and on both occasions a ball was played to the back post but was headed wide.
In the 9th minute Sporting Khalsa’s 'keeper, Toni Parkes, collided with a post and was carried off and replaced by Toran Kelly. Two minutes later Claire Hakeman’s cross-turned-shot surprised everyone by nearly going in the back of the Khalsa net.
Wolves continued to control the game, however, their next real chance to score was not until the 24th minute when the ball was played into Jade Cross, who squared it to Andrea Whetton in the box who saw her shot deflected away from goal by a defender.
Whetton was once again in the thick of things in 35th minute when a ball found her in the box but she was unable to do anything with it. The ball ended up at the feet of Dominque Luke who shot wide from the edge of the box.
Three minutes from the end of the first half Wolves’ fans finally had something to cheer about when a Jen Anslow corner led to a goalmouth scramble that Vicky Brackenbury shot into the net. 1-0.
HALF TIME: Wolves 1 Sporting Khalsa 0
During the half time interval Wolves Women & Girls FC completed their celebration of FA Girls Week with a pitch display by their RTC teams (U10s, U12s, U14s, U16s).
After play resumed, Wolves tried to carry on from where they had left off, when in 47th minute a ball played to Anna Perks after a scramble from a corner, found Whetton on the edge of the box who crossed the ball in but Brackenbury was unable to get on to it.
Sporting Khalsa Women had their first clear chance of the game in the 55th minute when a shot by Chloe Coldicott was hit straight at Wolves keeper Lucy Gardner.
Three minutes increased their lead after a well worked move by Jade Cross on the line resulted in the ball finding Amber Quick in the box and which she coolly slotted passed Khalsa’s keeper. 2-0.
Pressing forward, Sporting Khalsa won a free kick in 61st minute, which Kyrie Ball looped over the players, and seemed to be going in but struck the crossbar instead.
Eight minutes later Wolves got a third when Quick turned provider for Whetton to score from the centre of the box.
Wolves maintained their dominance for the remainder of the match.
FULL TIME: Wolves 3 Sporting Khalsa 0
Post match Tim Dudding tweeted, “A professional and well executed performance from the ladies today. Promising signs”
Next week Wolves travel to Loughborough University for their first league meeting against Division leaders Loughborough Foxes, who are so far unbeaten in this competition. Kick off 2pm.
Team: Gardner, Hakeman (Johnson), Anslow, Luke, Perks, Brackenbury (Widdal), E Cross, Quick, J Cross, Whetton, James (Hewitt)
Subs not used: None
