Wolves progress into next round

Wolves Women 10 (J Cross 22, 42, 45, Wilson 49, Dicken 62, 66, Widdal 70, J. Jennings 75, Glover 83, Keitley 90) Shifnal Town 0

A rampant second-half performance, along with Jade Cross’ first-half hat-trick, saw Wolves safely through into the next round of the cup.

Chances were limited in the first-half, with Jess Jennings and Cross coming closest, both shooting just off target.

The deadlock was finally broken midway through the first-half when Cross found the space to run into the box and smashed the ball into the top corner.

Bec Thomas then kept Wolves in front when Jenna Boddison found herself one on one with the goalkeeper, only for Thomas to pull off a magnificent save.

Wolves continued to push for a second as half-time closed in and got it with three minutes to go. Cross got her second of the game, heading home from a corner to put Wolves in command.

Cross then got her hat-trick right on half-time, when she found the space to gently guide the ball into the bottom corner and make sure Wolves were in control at half time.

Wolves started the send-half as strong as they ended the first, as Pip Wilson got the fourth of the game only five minutes into the half. Her strong, powerful effort from distance flew well beyond the goalkeeper and into the net.

Amy Dicken, on for her debut, then got the fifth after being on the field for less than two minutes, showing brilliant composure to slot the ball past the keeper.

Minutes later Dickens got another with a classy finish to put Wolves six ahead.

The goals kept on coming for Wolves, as Natalie Widdal was the next on the scoresheet as she managed to bundle the ball into the net off a corner.

Jennings was next to score as she slotted the ball in from close range to increase the lead further.

Further goals kept coming for Wolves, as another substitute in Lyndsey Glover found herself unmarked to make to nine late on.

Then, Alice Keitley scored the final goal of the afternoon with a fantastic finish from range to make it ten on the day for Wolves and send them into the next round.

Moment of the match

Only two minutes into her debut, Amy Dicken got her first goal for Wolves with a brilliant finish past the keeper with it hopefully being a sign of things to come.

Quotes

Manager Dan McNamara was pleased to see his side through to the next round of the cup:

He said: “I'm pleased. There was only really one aim for today and that was to be in the next round of the cup to be honest.

“I thought we were really poor in the first-half. Credit to Shifnal, they came and they battled and I thought they made it really difficult in the first-half. They had their own chances to score goals and they looked they really came to battle, credit to them.

“Second-half I think we knew we were always going to be fitter and able to kick on a gear or two, I think we went through the gears in the second-half and looked quite convincing in the end.”

McNamara also thought Dicken was impressive after scoring two goals on her debut.

“We have been impressed with [Dicken] over the past few weeks, she has been working really hard in training then she had a bit of a break so it would good to get her on and she what she was about.

“She made an instant impact with a fantastic two goals so yeah another one to think about in midfield, gives us another option, so yeah overall very pleasing.”

Coming up

Wolves return to the league next with a midweek clash at Sporting Khalsa on Wednesday. Another cup game follows this with an away trip to AFC Fylde in the National League Cup on Sunday.

Next five

09/10/19 – Sporting Khalsa (A)

13/10/19 – Fylde (A)

20/10/19 – Solihull Moors (A)

10/11/19 – Long Eaton United (H)

08/12/19 - Birmingham and West Midlands Ladies (A)

Teams

Wolves: Thomas, Widdal, E Cross, Morphet, Edwards, Anslow, S Jennings, Haynes (Glover 67), Wilson,  J Jennings (Dicken 60),  J Cross (Keitley 67).

Unused subs: Price, Buck, Walker, Jones.

Shifnal Town:  Henderson, Jones, Mason, Hazlehurst, D Bown, R Bown, Howes, Boddison, Wood, Smith, Bell.

Unused subs: Bonner, Higgs.

By Jack Dawson

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