An Amy Dicken brace and a debut goal from Darcy Cartwright inspired Wolves Women to progress into the last four of the Birmingham County Cup at Knowle.
A five-star display from Dan McNamara’s heavily-rotated squad saw the old gold ease through the quarter-final tie, with Ali Miller and Anna Price also on the scoresheet.
It took just seven minutes for Wolves to get their noses in front when Kelly Darby’s cross-field pass was well taken down by Beth Roberts, before she delivered a sublime cross onto the head of Dicken who found the net from a few yards out.
Roberts was a constant threat down the left-hand side and combined well with Beth Merrick, striking up a strong partnership. And it was the latter who turned provider for the second goal of the afternoon, as Merrick tricked her way to the byline and dinked a cross for Miller to tap home.
McNamara’s side dominated ball possession but had to be wary of the Knowle counter-attack, with the home faithful roaring their players on from the sidelines.
The returning Darby saw her afternoon cut short as she hobbled off, which provided youngster Cartwright with an early opportunity to impress, coming on for her first-team debut. She made an immediate impact and produced a special moment as her effort from the right-hand side looped over Claudia Mbanga in the Knowle goal to make it three, a couple of minutes before the interval.
Half-time | Knowle 0-3 Wolves
Cartwright continued to impress early into the second half, playing a clever ball over the top to Amy Hare, who was also on the receiving end of a diagonal pass from Laura Cooper moments later, but her final effort went just wide. Price was back to skipper the old gold and again showed her aerial ability, receiving the ball from a Josie Smith cross, only to nod just over the bar.
However, Price wasn’t to be denied on the 73rd minute when the defender got above her marker to head home Cooper’s corner, making it four for the afternoon for Wolves.
Substitute Katie Johnson almost added a fifth in sensational style, but her long-range effort rattled the crossbar with Mbanga left stranded.
There was still time for Wolves to add to the scoreline, with a fifth arriving in the second minute of stoppage time. Emma and Jade Cross both came off the bench to combine before the latter teed up Dicken, who was able to place her effort into the bottom corner for her second of the game and confirm Wolves’ spot in the semi-final.
Full-time | Knowle 0-5 Wolves
NEXT FIVE
- 22/02/23 Stoke City (A) FAWNL
- 26/02/23 Loughborough Lightning (A) FAWNL
- 05/03/23 Watford (A) Women’s National League Cup
- 12/03/23 AFC Fylde (A) FAWNL
- 16/03/23 West Brom (A) FAWNL
TEAMS
Knowle | Mbanga, Betteridge, Smith, Byrne, Smallwood (Harris 50), Clarke, Gibson, Fleming, Holland, Rolph (Morris 68), Barlow.
Wolves | Turner, Cooper (E. Cross 76), Price, Elsmore (George 69), Dicken, Darby (Cartwright 39), Miller, Roberts (Johnson 60), Smith, Merrick (J. Cross 60), Hare.
