Women's report | Wolves 2-2 Stoke

23rd February 2023

Wolves 2 (J. Cross 29, Dermody 32) Stoke City 2 (Bramford 75, Kivel 90+5)

Wolves Women’s title charge took a hit as they conceded late on to draw 2-2 with Stoke City at the New Bucks Head Stadium.

Following an impressive and dominant first half, Wolves went into the break with a two-goal lead thanks to Jade Cross and Helen Dermody.

However, a confident Stoke City came out of the blocks in the second 45 and pushed Dan McNamara’s side right to the final whistle with Sophie Bramford curling a goal back with 15 minutes to play before Rosin Kivel levelled the scores deep into stoppage time.

Tammi George proved to be a problem early on for the visitors, with shots from distance testing the goalkeeper, and Wolves soon found themselves with a corner in the opening five minutes. The subsequent cross fell back out to the taker, Anna Morphet, who tried her luck again and found an unmarked Destiney Toussaint in the centre. Her shot was scuffed just wide as it trickled past the left post.

Toussaint then tried her luck again, this time from open play. A brilliant ball fed through by Katie Johnson from deep in her own half, arrowed into the path of the Wolves striker who, from wide, struck a deadly shot which smashed off the top of the crossbar.

McNamara’s side bossed possession for the first 45 minutes and soon found another opening. Following her myriad of attempts, Toussaint coolly controlled a cleared ball before darting down the left wing and cutting into the penalty box. Instead of shooting, she selflessly set up Cross who launched a shot into the top left of the goal.

The lead quickly doubled with Cross turning provider. Down the right, she created space for herself to drill a pass low into the box. Dermody made no mistake as she collected the ball and blasted a shot from close range into the back of the net.

Half-time | Wolves 2-0 Stoke City

As the second half began, Stoke looked to rectify their lack of possession from the first and applied early pressure to their opposition. Bramford charged into the home half before attempting to catch Nina Wilson off her line by hitting a long-range effort. The Wolves ‘keeper dived into the space to her right to palm the shot away.

The Potters’ possession would soon turnover with Wolves mounting a plethora of attacks with Beth Merrick finding the path of Beth Roberts. The former Stoke City player, who joined Wolves earlier this month, fired a dangerous low cross into the path of Cross who pressured her marker which saw the Stoke defender rattle her own crossbar with an attempted clearance.

The old gold struggled to see the type of possession they were commanding in the first half and soon paid the price for not closing out the game. Following her earlier effort, Bramford found herself with space inside the penalty area. On the left, she curled a right-footed effort powerfully into the bottom right corner to reduce the deficit.

The visitors had the chance to equal the score just minutes later with Kivel missing an opportunity. Stoke’s top goal scorer ran down the right with Wilson rushing out of her goal. Audaciously, she attempted a chipped shot but lifted it up and over the goal.

But to Wolves’ dismay, Kivel’s relentless attempts at goal would soon come to fruition. With the last kick of the game, Stoke won a free-kick on the halfway line. With everyone in the box including goalkeeper Liz Hobson, the ball was hit long which saw Wilson save a powerful header. Her save fell to Kivel who struck low, bobbling through defenders legs and creeping in at the death to see Wolves drop two precious points at home.

Full-time | Wolves 2-2 Stoke City

REACTION

Following the disappointment of conceding such a late equaliser, head coach McNamara expressed his frustration at full-time. He said: “It was hugely disappointing, that’s what the initial feeling is, huge disappointment. I’m not too sure what’s gone on in that second half, I’m a little bit shell-shocked at the minute.

“The first half we were unplayable, they [Stoke City] couldn’t get the ball off us, they didn’t register a shot on target. In the second half we didn’t start, we didn’t do the simple things. You could see in the girls’ faces and their reactions that they were disappointed in themselves and we’re disappointed as staff as well. It was a frustrating one.”

On what they were missing in the second half

“It’s hard to put your finger on it straight away. We lacked intensity and tempo; those are the things that we did well in the first half. We moved the ball well, we were quick. We seemed to not come out in the second half and Stoke came out and changed their game plan. They came at us and were right in our face; everything you would expect from Stoke, they did really well in the second half.”

On Beth Roberts’ performance

“They all did well in the first half. Beth has come in and she was outstanding with her deliveries into the box, making forward runs, really good out of possession and that goes from one to 11 in that first half. But come the second half we stopped doing the simple things, we didn’t get hold of the game. That’s a huge two points dropped today and it’s really disappointing.”

On Jade Cross’ recent scoring form

“Jade’s been fantastic this season, she’s found her scoring boots over the past few weeks and had another great finish to add to her collection. But I know she won’t be happy, she’s in it for the team. She had a great performance, a player of the match performance for Jade tonight but it’s not about individuals. The whole dressing room is a bit flat, a bit down, but ultimately we’ve got to get up and go again, try and keep this pressure on the top two now and see if we can stay in it and that starts with Loughborough on Sunday.”

COMING UP

Wolves Women face Loughborough away this Sunday in a bid to keep the pressure on league leaders Nottingham Forest. Loughborough sit bottom on the league without any wins this season but McNamara insisted it will be no easy game.

“They have a great manager and he’ll be working hard with those players and they’ll be making sure they look good in training and have some fresh ideas. We know it’s going to be difficult especially off the back of tonight, it was an intense game, but we have to deal with it and make sure we’re up to it and look to correct the wrongs from tonight.”

Following the defeat, the Wolves head coach also had a message to the fans who travelled out to the floodlit, midweek game.

“A huge thank you to them. We’re sorry we couldn’t get the win for you today but I did say that this season is going to be long and it’s going to be hard. We’re trying everything to recreate those moments together but you’ve got to stick with us and it might not look like we want it every week but if we stay together, we’ll continue to make memories together.”

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