Dan McNamara’s visitors were three goals to the good inside the opening 51 minutes and looked set for a comfortable victory, before two Forest goals made for a nail-biting finale. However, Amber Hughes settled any nerves by notching her second of the game deep into injury time to seal the three points.
The game kicked off with both teams struggling to break the other down with the best opportunity coming from Tammi George who had an attempt at goal cleared by the Forest defender.
An unfortunate injury in the 25th minute saw Destiney Toussaint replaced by Jade Cross after a collision with the Forest defender left her unable to continue. This led to Forest getting their first big chance of the game as Greengrass bent a shot towards goal which forced a great save out of Bec Thomas.
Wolves took the lead on the 35-minute mark after a wonder strike from Maz Gauntlet. She received the ball after an accurate long pass from Beth Merrick and proceeded to turn the Forest defender before finding a bit of space from outside of the box - she took advantage and arrowed it into the top corner to the applause of the away fans.
35’| #FOR 0-1 #WOL
— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) September 18, 2022
WHAT A STRIKE @mazgauntlett 🤩#FORWOL🐺 pic.twitter.com/HByi7MYlx9
Hughes then scored her fifth goal in as many games as she picked up the ball in midfield before driving into the box and calmly slotting the ball into the bottom corner to double the visitors’ lead going into the break.
Half-time | Nottingham Forest 0-2 Wolves
The old gold put the pressure on right from the start of the second half, which earned them a corner. Anna Morphet whipped in a high cross which found the head of Katie Johnson who powered the ball into the back of the net - her fourth of the campaign from centre-back.
Thomas continued her excellent form for Wolves, with multiple key saves stopping Forest from breaking her streak of clean sheets ever since she came into the side after Shan Turner left for international duty.
Forest started to gain momentum as they forced Wolves into making several fouls in advantageous positions. These fouls would help the home side as a free-kick forced a save out of Thomas, but she was unable to keep a hold of it and Arryana Daniels tapped it into the back of the net to give the hosts a route back into the game.
Only two minutes later and another free-kick saw Forest grab their second goal, as Becky Anderson curled in a beautiful free-kick which found its way into the top corner of Thomas’ goal.
The home side continued to control the game as they continued to fight for a leveller, forcing Wolves into deep waters but the visitors continued to show fight and were defensively solid, keeping Forest at bay even when it did look like they could grab the equaliser.
Wolves were able to transition from defence to attack in a heartbeat to make the points safe, with Hughes locking onto a clearance from Johnson, beating one defender and dinking it from just outside the box and over the Forest goalkeeper to make it four.
Full-time | Nottingham Forest 2-4 Wolves
Amber on the scoresheet yet again, with two goals to her name today 😍
— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) September 18, 2022
That’s 6️⃣ in 5️⃣ now! pic.twitter.com/xhb448vada
REACTION
A difficult game against some of the best competition in the Northern Premier Division saw Wolves grab another three points to continue their unbeaten start to the 2022/23 campaign. Here is what manager Dan McNamara had to say on the result.
On Destiney Toussaint’s injury
“It’s a little bit too early to tell, we will see. She’s just walked out so that’s positive. It’s a little bit dour on the day but we’ll have a full assessment on Tuesday and hopefully she’ll be back on the pitch as soon as possible.”
On the 90 minutes
“It was remarkable, the girls need all the credit, what a group. Talk about memories, these memories that we keep on making are phenomenal. We set up in a gameplan today that we thought would hurt Forest and in the first half we were unplayable. Eventually we made a breakthrough from Maz, but today is all about the players, they’re unbelievable.”
On Maz Gauntlett’s wonder strike
“People ask me what Maz brings to the squad, if you want to know what she brings have a look at the highlights tonight. What a player, what a person, you have her on the pitch because you know she can bring moments like that. I was going to go mad at her for shooting from 30-yards but thankfully it went in.”
On his half-time team talk
“I think 2-0 is a dangerous score line. We asked the girls to start quick as we know that Forest were going to have their moments, and I think they had the majority of the second half to be honest. We couldn’t maintain that tempo and intensity that we played at in the first half. Katie Johnson was fantastic once again, but the difficulty was conceding from two set-pieces, that was a bit of a downer on the day, but it’s three points against a very tough opposition. There aren’t many teams that will come here and win this year. I think Forest are up there with the favourites to win the title this year so to come here and get three points is an outstanding achievement for the girls.”
On Bec Thomas’ goalkeeping heroics
“I can remember two or three saves that kept us in the game, game-winning saves. Over the past few years, it’s been tough for Bec. Shan’s come in and been phenomenal and I had a really tough decision today - it was a decision where I couldn’t win. Thankfully Bec has repaid my faith in her, unbelievable performance, her distribution is up there with some of the players on the pitch. I’m delighted for her, and she should be really pleased.”
On cup action against Northampton next up
“We’ve spoken as a group and the National League Cup is something that we’ve probably been disappointed in over the last few years. I think we have failed to progress as far as we would like in the competition so it’s something we are going to take very seriously; we want to go out and get deep into every competition that we play in this year.”
NEXT FIVE
- 25/09 Northampton Town (A)
- 02/10 Burnley (H)
- 09/10 Boldmere St Michaels (H)
- 12/10 West Brom (H)
- 23/10 Derby County (A)
TEAMS
Nottingham Forest: Batty, Harkin, Hewitt (West 58), Cook (Daniella 58), Steggles (Powell 58), Domingo, Moncaster, Reynolds (Mitchell 58), Anderson, Greengrass, James.
Wolves: Thomas, Morphet, E. Cross, George, Gauntlett (Dicken 74), Dermody (Cooper 90), Hughes, Johnson, Toussaint (J. Cross 25), Merrick.
By Callum Brannan
