Wolves Women got their season up and running in style with a thumping 5-0 victory against Huddersfield Town on Sunday afternoon.
Dan McNamara’s side hit four second-half goals, following Maz Gauntlett’s early opener, to banish the disappointment of an opening day draw against Liverpool Feds.
Hunting for a first victory, Wolves started the game with intent, with some good interlinking play between Tammi George and Amber Hughes, and after just five minutes Hughes was able to find Gauntlett who slotted the ball into the back of the net.
The dominance continued throughout the opening half and the second goal nearly arrive just before the break, with a laser accurate cross from Beth Merrick finding the head of Destiny Toussaint, but she put the ball just wide of the post.
Half-time | Huddersfield Town 0-1 Wolves
Wolves started the second-half as they finished the first, with Merrick continuing to cause real problems for the Terriers’ defence. So, when Anna Morphet whipped a corner in and found prolific goalscorer Amber Hughes, she headed home a deserved second.
Then, when Merrick’s shot was saved by the Huddersfield goalkeeper, it rebounded out to Helen Dermody who almost gave Wolves their third with a curling effort from outside the box.
Number three was just around the corner however, as Tammi George got in on the act, as she was the first to the ball after a cross caused a scramble in the box to convert.
At this point Wolves were in their groove and once substitute Jade Cross had kept an attack alive, she squared for Amy Dicken to head home their fourth.
Then, within 30 seconds of that goal, Wolves were able to force another scramble in the box, and once again it was Cross who was able to capitalise on the opportunity, striking the ball home off a Huddersfield defender to round off the scoring.
Full-time | Huddersfield Town 0-5 Wolves
REACTION
Dan McNamara described the match as “the most complete performance we’ve seen in a long time from the group.
He said: “This is a difficult place to come, against a really good outfit, but we’ve blown them away there. I don’t think 5-0 does the scoreline justice if I’m honest with you, I think it could have been that at half-time. They were relentless, ruthless, they looked like that Wolves team that achieved great things last year. I’m absolutely proud of each one of them, they were at a different level today.”
On scoring early on
“They play quick, every time we play Huddersfield, we end up 1-0 down within 15 minutes so we spoke about that. We have to get off that bus, make sure we’re ready and that is why Maz is in there, doesn’t matter if it’s the first minute or the ninetieth minute she’s got calm, composed finishes in the box. It was a great finish that set us off on our way.”
On learning from Liverpool Feds
“Like I said, the score at half-time reflected the performance, I think it could have been five at half-time, their goalkeeper was crucial and made some fantastic saves.
“We spoke about it, I won’t paint over it, we spoke about Feds and how we allowed them to come back into the game and I said we’ve got them here, we have to press on and really capitalise, the girls did that. The starting eleven plus the five that came on, I thought they were outstanding and added to the game.
“We always speak to the subs about impacting the game and Amy Dicken has gone on there and scored a goal for herself, Jade Cross has gone on and created opportunities for herself. Kelly Darby and Laura Cooper have come on and done the job they did really well last season. I’m just delighted today, absolutely fantastic and the girls deserve all the credit.”
On the high press
“We wanted to see the ruthless side and the principles that have seen us achieve so much success, I don’t think we saw that in the second-half last week. We wanted to see that aggression, that real desire out of possession and that ruthlessness on the ball. You got that in abundance, and they were all phenomenal.”
On the players’ importance
“Destiny’s had an absolutely storming debut, Amber Hughes on the scoresheet again, Tammi George has won that midfield battle for me again and the back three as well, we talked about getting back to our roots of keeping clean sheets and that’s fantastic what they’ve done out there.
“Katie Johnson, 19-years old, comes in and now I can’t take her out at the minute, absolutely phenomenal performance from her Anna Morphet and Emma Cross. We knew what we were getting with Destiny, you can see they were terrified of her, she created things and almost had a few scoring opportunities herself.
“The thing about Johnson is that she loves the badge, she loves the club, she understands what my desire is, she’s been with us for a year, she’s trusted the process and now she’s reaping the rewards. She has a very bright future in the game and hopefully it will be with Wolves because I know how much it means to her to be out there representing her club and I think you see it in every challenge, every pass and every header.”
On preparing for Stoke
“Tomorrow, we have a recovery session with the first-team so that’s going to be brilliant for the girls, but as I said it shouldn’t happen, it doesn’t happen in the men’s game. Three away games with one midweek on a Tuesday is ridiculous to start a season, we get barriers, and we’ll push them down and see where it takes us.”
NEXT FIVE
- 30/08 Stoke (A)
- 04/09 Loughborough Lightning (H)
- 18/09 Nottingham Forest (A)
- 25/09 Fylde (A)
- 02/10 Burnley (H)
TEAMS
Huddersfield | Joyce, Stanfield, Mallin, Griffiths, Anderson, Parry (Linsell 69), Montgomery (Hulme 69), Sanderson, Housley, Mason (Porteous-Williams 38), Fletcher.
Wolves | Turner, Morphet, E.Cross, George (Price 76), Gauntlett (J.Cross 57), Dermody (Darby 76), Hughes, Holmes (Cooper 57), Johnson, Toussaint (Dicken 68), Merrick.
By Callum Brannan
