Women's report | Wolves 0-2 AFC Fylde

9th January 2023

Wolves Women 0 AFC Fylde Women 2 (Forster 34, McCoy 66)

Wolves Women kicked off 2023 with a two-goal defeat to AFC Fylde, who inflicted a second loss of the season on the old gold.

Goals either side of the break from Anna Forster and Faye McCoy gave the Coasters all three points at the New Bucks Head and left Wolves frustrated in their first outing of the year.

Both teams battled for the first 15 minutes, trying to find the space to get the first goal, but strong defending kept each other at bay. However, it was the away side who were able to take the lead as Forster arrived at the back post to tap a cross into the back of the net.

Wolves struggled to find that one chance to get them back into the game due to some good defending from Fylde, who executed their game plan to relative perfection. This was until Jade Cross was able to make a fantastic run down the left wing, beating her defender and squaring a ball into the box that just missed Maz Gauntlett due to a last second clearance from the away side.

Half-time | Wolves 0-1 AFC Fylde

The break was effective as Wolves started the second half on fire, dominating Fylde and starting to create the chances they were lacking in the first half. Anna Price brought a real aerial presence throughout the early stages of the half, with one of her headed efforts firing against the crossbar, and another being saved by the goalkeeper.

Laura Cooper almost grabbed herself a goal with a rocket of a strike from outside of the box which was saved by the Fylde goalkeeper. It felt like the old gold were on track to find a way back into the game and this seemed certain when Ali Miller played an outside of the boot pass to Helen Dermody, whose shot drifted just wide after some good defending.

The game started to calm down after the opening 20 minutes of the second half, with both teams going back to a stalemate until a handball from Wolves gave Fylde a penalty. McCoy stepped up and buried the spot-kick into the bottom left corner of the goal to double the away side’s lead.

Wolves had a glorious opportunity to get back into the game, as a mistimed challenge led to the home side being awarded a penalty of their own. Anna Morphet stepped up, but her effort from 12 yards went over the bar and at that point it seemed like nothing would go the way of Dan McNamara’s side.

The rest of the game became heated as the away side attempted to run out the clock which led to a few encounters between players on both sides. One of these saw Fylde goal scorer Forster sent off for a tackle after she was already on a yellow card but, by that point, the Coasters had the game sewn up.

Full-time | Wolves 0-2 AFC Fylde

REACTION

Manager McNamara was of course frustrated with the result but didn’t take anything away from Fylde who he thought made a good account of themselves.

“Frustrating is the word to sum it up,” said McNamara. “It’s tough, because we probably did enough to win the game. 20 minutes into the second half I thought we should’ve been 4-1 up and you can’t miss chances like we did.

“When we get the penalty and that goes over, you think it’s one of those days and it’s not going to fall for you and that’s the way it worked out.

“Fylde are a good side, with good players and in the end, they punished us. It’s not the way we wanted to start 2023 but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt, and we’ve got to move on quickly.”

On the message to the girls at half-time

“The message was to continue what they were doing. We set up a game plan that I thought worked. There were certain moments where I think we really hurt Fylde in the first half. At half-time we made a little bit of a change, but we can’t create that many chances and not put the ball into the back of the net.

“I don’t know whether it’s something here at Telford, but it’s something that we seem to struggle with, putting the ball in the goal and unfortunately that’s happened again. On a different day, we probably win the game 4-2.

“We take nothing away from Fylde, who came with their own game plan and they prepared well and have taken the points.”

On the performance overall

“I don’t think it was a bad performance. We’re in a difficult moment with our suspensions and injuries and people could see that from the teamsheet, but I thought we created good chances, especially in the second half.

“Ultimately, it’s fine margins in this game and the crossbar was probably the fine margin we talk about. If those chances are six inches either side, we’re probably winning the game 4-2.”

On what’s coming up

With the league being able to give as little as five days’ notice for a rearranged league game, Wolves remain unsure of who or whether they will have an opponent next Sunday to prepare for, and this is something McNamara spoke very passionately about.

“I’ve said it time and time again, tier three needs more respect. There are great clubs, North and South, and we’re employing great backroom staff to analyse and do things behind the scenes to try and emulate the people at the top of the game in the WSL and the Championship.

“It’s nothing short of disrespectful and ridiculous when you get five days’ notice for a game of this magnitude, and that’s for Fylde as well. No excuses on our behalf, we got beaten by the better side, but it’s embarrassing.

“They’re asking us to be the best we can be and to try and grow and build the game, but we don’t know what we’re doing this weekend now.”

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