Dan McNamara’s side are fighting on all fronts and competing in the Birmingham County Cup, Vitality Women’s FA Cup Women’s National League Cup in the coming weeks, with supporters able to attend the latter two cup ties.
The women’s first-team have doubled their fan base this season and have enjoyed a successful move to Telford’s New Bucks Head, however despite the progression Wolves are making on and off the pitch, logistics and scheduling challenges continue to occur due to various cup games in quick succession, which are eased by the staffing structure in place.
Wolves were due to travel to Chelmsley Colts in the Birmingham County Cup on Sunday, however due a waterlogged pitch, the tie has been switched to Compton Park at short notice, not allowing sufficient time to plan and prepare for the safe entry of supporters on this occasion.
That challenge was one of a number faced by head of women’s & girls‘ football Jenna Burke-Martin and the team, and she said: “We’re striving to get better all the time and doing a good job with our progression through the league, playing at Telford and becoming more professional as a women’s set up, but there’s a bigger picture with what we have to go through to get games organised when there’s a short turnaround.
“As it stands, in November and December we have two league matches scheduled, one at the beginning and one at the end, and the second will be cancelled if we progress in the County Cup, so you’re looking at one league game in two months.
“The FA Cup draw took place this week and until then you don’t know if you’re home or away, then if you’re using a venue such as Telford, you’re trying to make the schedule work, not just in terms of us, but for Telford, our under-21s and the ground staff, both of Wolves and Telford working together.
“As you progress in the FA Cup, there’s one game next weekend, then you’re into January, so it’s a bit spread out, but the County Cup and League Cup come thick and fast. We want to play some games at Compton, as that’s where we train, and our youth age groups play there. We want to host some games at Compton, but we’ve got to work on scheduling with Compton, Kidderminster, Telford and Molineux to fit in the right games, at the right place at the right time.”
On 27th November Wolves face Northampton in the FA Cup – a tie which was only confirmed this week – and determined to progress in the competition, Wolves will host the tie at Telford, before returning to Wolverhampton to face Durham Cestria in the League Cup the following week.
“We played Northampton at Compton in pre-season and in the cup away, so it’s good to take them to Telford and compete in the FA Cup at our home ground. The FA Cup is a fantastic competition to be a part of and we want to progress, so we’re pleased to be able to play at Telford.
“Then we’ll play Durham at Compton. The last Compton game we issued 150 tickets and will issue 200 for this game, trying to allow more fans in based on the feedback we got. We’ve got the largest fan base we’ve ever had, so we have a responsibility to put games on. This weekend we’ve worked to get the game on, but unfortunately, we can’t have everything with a two-day turnaround.
“The priority will always be to play the game, which we are still able to do on this occasion, and we hope fans will still engage at the upcoming fixtures and look forward to welcoming them all back to Telford the following week.”
Ticket information for the cup ties against Northampton and Durham will be announced in the near future.
