Women Fall To Forest

by Callum Doughty

 

Wolves Women 0

Nottingham Forest Ladies 1 (Greaves 25)

Wolves Women suffered their fifth league defeat of the season as they were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest Ladies in a well contested game at Keys Park.

Wolves may consider themselves unlucky not to have taken something from the game, in what was a tight and sometimes fiery encounter.

The home side started the game on the back foot, and a number of important saves from Issy Foster in the Wolves’ goal, first from a Nikki Emery strike and then from an Amy Dicken shot, kept the scores level.

Despite the away side’s pressure, Wolves managed to create a chance for themselves, but Leanne Robinson fired over after a free kick wasn’t dealt with by the Forest defence.

However, it was the away side who took the lead. Emery‘s low driven ball was tapped home by Trina Greaves from around 10 yards out.

Wolves didn’t let the goal affect them though and went close to equalising twice just before the half-time break. Courtney Jones’ long-range curling effort was well saved by the Forest keeper and Jen Anslow found herself with a chance inside the box but she was unable to get her shot on target.

The second-half began much the same way as the first, with both teams’ possession of the ball resulting in very little in terms of goalscoring opportunities.

Wolves were buoyed by the away side being reduced to ten players, Dicken receiving a red card from the referee after an off-the-ball incident.

Although it was Wolves with the extra player advantage, they were unable to create any clear goalscoring chances and it was Forest who came the closest to getting the second goal of the game, hitting the bar twice through Hudson.

Wolves Assistant Manager Tom Davies was pleased with the team’s performance despite the result. He said: ‘’It was a much better performance today. We had two very good chances in the first half and if we had scored it would have been a different game.

‘’Forest were very professional, especially after the red card so credit to them for that. Moving onto next week, we’re hoping to continue to improve and pick up a result to show for that.’’

Next Sunday 15th October sees Wolves Women at home again when they entertain Fylde Ladies at Hednesford Town FC with a 2pm kick-off. Admission is £2; concessions and Wolves season ticket holders £1.

TEAM: Foster, McQuilkin, Anslow (Whetton), Jones, Widdal, Butler, E. Cross, Price (C), J. Cross, Robinson, Haynes. Subs: Clarke, Bragan, Moran, Hakeman, Hewitt.

PICTURE OF JADE CROSS COURTESY OF SIMON FAULKNER