Wolves Women suffered an unfortunate defeat to a strong Burnley side on Sunday, but Dan McNamara and the 582 supporters in attendance will have taken heart from the performance at the New Bucks Head.
Ali Miller followed up her two goals last weekend with a third of the season, but it came in vain, as the visitors ran out victors, condemning Wolves to their first home defeat since February 2019.
Before the game, twins Emma and Jade Cross were both recognised for recently achieving two hundred appearances for the old gold, but following kick-off, Wolves struggled to find their finishing touch, despite Laura Cooper impressing early on, with her deliveries being well defended by Burnley.
The best chance of the first-half was almost gifted to Wolves when Jess Simpson played a back pass for goalkeeper Lauren Bracewell to clear, which caused problems, but she cleared the ball off the line at the last possible opportunity.
However, the next opportunity would force the opener, with a scramble from a corner providing Ella Kinzett the chance to tap the ball into the back of the net to give the visitors the lead.
Half-time | Wolves 0-1 Burnley
Wolves started the second-half attempting to pile the pressure on Burnley in an attempt to draw level, however Jonathan Morgan’s side took control of the contest and started to cause real problems for the old gold, with Evie Priestley putting real pressure on the Wolves defence.
Burnley were able to double their lead when Priestley fired a shot into the top corner of Bec Thomas’ goal, giving the Wolves stopper no chance. From there, the hosts struggled to create chances and Burnley were able to take advantage when the home side started to push on.
Another run from Priestley cause more problems as she was able to get in behind before blasting a shot into the back of the net to give herself a brace and her side a three-goal cushion.
Wolves did at least find the net, with substitute Miller impressing, and she received the ball on the edge of the box before hitting a precise shot into the top corner of Bracewell’s net to applause from the home fans.
Full-time | Wolves 1-3 Burnley
REACTION
A battle against one of the best teams in the Northern Premier Division saw Wolves’ unbeaten streak snapped. This is what manager Dan McNamara had to say on the defeat.
On the team’s performance
McNamara said: “I just want to congratulate Burnley they were fantastic today. They’ve set the bar for this league over the season, and they’ll take some stopping on that kind of form. Ultimately, this is a time to reflect, me and the staff got something wrong and we’ll take responsibility for that. The games come round quick in this league, we’ve got to put the disappointment behind us and get ready to go again.”
On the first-half
“If we converted one of the chances we had early on then we may be looking at a different game, it was pretty disappointing to go 1-0 down. These things happen, that’s why we love the game, it’s not all rosy and it’s about how we respond to this now. This won’t define our season, but the reaction to it will.”
On league action against Boldmere
“They are here for a reason, they did really well last season. We’ve got to prepare how we would any other game and the reaction to this is going to be really important. That’s two games in four days with Boldmere and West Brom, so we’ve got to learn from this. I’ll reflect on this with my staff, and we’ll be ready.”
NEXT FIVE
- 09/10 Boldmere St Michaels (H)
- 12/10 West Brom (H)
- 23/10 Derby County (A)
- 06/11 Brighouse Town (H)
- 18/12 Fylde Women (A)
TEAMS
Wolves | Thomas, Cooper, Morphet, E. Cross, George, Gauntlett (Dicken 82), Dermody (J. Cross 77), Hughes, Holmes, Johnson, Merrick (Miller 59).
Burnley | Bracewell, Cooper, Taylor, Walsh, Simpson, Ravening, Brown (O. Greenhalgh 73), Kinzett, May, Priestley (Molinari 90), Embley (Willis 80).
By Callum Brannan
