A Jade Cross double followed a goal from Destiney Toussaint to give Wolves a crucial three points against leaders Nottingham Forest in the race for the title.
Despite falling behind in the opening ten minutes, Dan McNamara’s side showed the determination and resilience required for a title charge to storm back at the New Bucks Head.
The pressure on both sides to get a result out of the fixture was high, with Forest topping the table and Wolves sitting three points below with a game in hand. McNamara knew a better performance than against Huddersfield would be needed in order to overcome the attacking brilliance of the Reds, and he got it.
Wolves put the pressure on the visitors early on and were almost rewarded when Anna Morphet played in a perfect corner which Destiney Toussaint headed down towards goal, and after the Forest keeper parried away her effort, new signing Beth Roberts tried to follow with a tap in, but a red shirt was there to make a clear off the line.
Forest hit the bar through Charlotte Greengrass and minutes later took the lead through the forward, but it wasn’t long till Wolves responded, as they flung all bodies forward and a great passage of play saw Toussaint fire home from close range to equalise.
Cross almost gave Wolves the lead as she found herself charging towards goal with only the goalkeeper to beat, but her decision to shoot from a tight angle didn’t allow her to find the net.
Then, Beth Merrick sent an effort flying from distance on the stroke of half-time, and just when we thought we would be going into the break level, some brilliant decision-making allowed Katie Johnson to receive the ball out to the left and drive the ball inside the box. She played in a cross, and it was Cross who got the final touch, as the crowd in the New Bucks head went wild.
Half-time| Wolves 2-1 Nottingham Forest
A penalty call for Forest early in the second-half was quickly waved away my referee Phillip Lindsey, with the game really starting to heat up. Toussaint even had to swap shirts with Anna Price momentarily as hers appeared to have ripped, until a plain one could be provided.
Forest weren’t proving too much of a threat, with Nina Wilson dealing with any efforts comfortably until winger Sophie Domingo worked the ball into the box and Hayley James almost fired home.
However, it was none other than Cross who claimed her brace minutes later. Again, finding herself one-on-one with Forest shot-stopper Emily Batty following a perfect through ball, but this time she made the right decision and shot early, with Batty getting the tips of her fingers to it, but it was not enough as it still found the back of the net.
Despite the two-goal cushion Wolves now had, they knew they could not afford to switch off against such a strong side, because any chance they would get, they would take.
No more big chances came for either side however, as Wolves saw the game out confidently and earned themselves a huge three points to carry into their next league game against Stoke and putting them firmly back in a race for the league title.
Full-time | Wolves 3-1 Nottingham Forest
REACTION
It was no secret how happy head coach McNamara was with the result, running on the pitch to celebrate with the players and fans, with the biggest grin ever on his face. He realised how crucial those three points were.
“I thought Wolves Women,” said McNamara as he tried to summarise his feelings. “It had everything.
“It was two unbelievable sides, both showing so much commitment to the cause, desire and heart, but I thought the girls were tremendous. We knew how big it was and that if we didn’t get the result, we’d probably find it hard to catch them, so to come away with a 3-1 victory is remarkable.
“The way they’ve gone out and executed the game plan that was set. We wanted to be hard to beat, but knew we’d have a threat going forward and it’s worked perfectly. Credit to Forest who came out and delivered, but there were some outstanding performances.
“We didn’t let going one behind affect us. We’ve got huge character in the dressing room. I told them to relax and reset and don’t deviate from the game plan because we knew we’d get chances, and we knew what Forest were susceptible to.
“The pleasing thing for me is that we felt in control of the game for large parts of it and we didn’t have much of the ball and to still feel in control without it was key. What a performance and what a group.”
McNamara knew the game was far from over, even with a two-goal cushion, because he knew what Forest could do.
“We know how much quality they’ve got on the bench,” he said. “Smith, Mosby and Mitchell who have caused us all kind of problems away from home, so when those three stand up you know they can still cause us issues.
“They stayed resilient. We talked about resilience and being hard to beat and break down and we will always create chances with the quality we’ve got on the pitch. It was tough and there were some moments where we had to suffer, but we got through it.”
On Jade Cross’ performance…
“Jade was unbelievable. She doesn’t stop and you can see in every action she does on the pitch, how much it means to her to play for this football club and that’s what we need week in week out.
“I’m delighted for her, and I know she will have really enjoyed those goals; not sure the first one was hers, dubious goal panel, but obviously delighted.”
On Laura Cooper’s 50th appearance…
“50 appearances for this club is a great milestone. I’m delighted for Coops and for her to get over the line with that and hopefully another 50 in the making.
“Coops has hung in there with us. She knows how difficult it is to get in that eleven and she had her chance and her moment for 65/70 minutes and I thought she was tremendous You know what you’re going to get of her; she breaks up play, makes it easy, does simple things really well. It’s a tough act to follow in Summer, but she’s done it fantastically.
“I’m really proud of her. I don’t even think she got a warm-up, we had to get her on the pitch, so to come on and play like that was credit to her.”
COMING UP
Focus now switches to the County Cup, one of two trophies that Wolves got their hands on last season as they beat Black Country rivals West Bromwich Albion in the final. McNamara and the girls are always hungry for any piece of silverware, but to win it two years in a row would be special.
“We want to win all competitions. The game’s about making memories and we made a fantastic memory here a couple of weeks ago against West Ham; that was our cup final.
“We have to now focus on what we can hopefully go on to win and the county cup is something that we want to keep in Wolverhampton, so we’re taking that seriously. We’re making sure we’re focused this week and the girls are in and working hard in training and preparing well for it.”
NEXT FIVE
- 19/02/23 Knowle (A) County Cup quarter final
- 22/02/23 Stoke City (H)
- 26/02/23 Loughborough Lightning (A)
- 05/03/23 Watford (A) League Cup semi final
- 12/03/23 AFC Fylde (A)
TEAMS
Wolves: Wilson, Morphet, E.Cross, George, J.Cross (Miller 90), Dermody, Holmes (Cooper 32), Johnson, Toussaint, Roberts, Merrick.
Nottingham Forest: Batty, Harkin, Cook (Mitchell 63), Steggles, Domingo (Mosby 63), Moncaster (Smith 63), West, O’Neill, Anderson, James, Greengrass.
By Meg Garbutt
