Wolves put Wednesday’s disappointment to bed as they travelled to bottom of the table Loughborough and put six past them. Skipper Helen Dermody opened the scoring after 21 minutes, with every goal scored coming from a different area of the pitch.
After a 4-0 win against Lightning earlier in the season, Wolves were looking to replicate their home performance and certainly did that at the University Stadium.
The girls looked fiery from the off, Beth Merrick always open on the left to receive balls from the midfield and allowing the attack to open up.
A lofted effort from Summer Holmes forced the first save of the game from Loughborough’s Kiya Webb. The hosts went straight on the counterattack following the respective corner, but some brilliant man-marking from Dermody made the shot on goal from Kate Middleton easy for Nina Wilson to handle.
The old gold broke the deadlock just after the 20-minute mark following a corner. A scramble in the box meant the ball fell to the feet of Wolves’ skipper Dermody, who shot through the Loughborough defence, the ball hitting the underside of the bar and going in; Dermody scoring her second in consecutive games.
Destiney Toussaint came close to doubling the lead, as she received the ball at a tight angle and struck her effort inches wide, but it was Katie Johnson who did find the back of the net minutes later. A beautifully floated assist from Holmes allowed the youngster to rise high and head the ball past Webb for the second.
The floodgates had opened, as Toussaint scored a third on the half hour mark. Tammi George found Merrick in acres of space who worked the ball intricately into the box and picked out Toussaint a few yards from goal. All that was needed was a confident tap-in to find the back of the net and Toussaint had her name on the scoresheet.
Jade Cross was on target for the fourth on the stroke of half-time. Merrick found her on the edge of the box and she worked the ball superbly, finding enough space to cleanly strike the ball into the bottom left corner.
Half-time | Loughborough 0-4 Wolves
For Wolves, the second half priority was not letting Loughborough back into the game and consolidating the scoreline. After some lacklustre second halves over recent weeks, manager Dan McNamara wanted to see a complete 90 minutes of fluid football.
Another chance came through an Anna Morphet free-kick. She whipped in a great ball out from the left, and it looked like George was going to get on the end of it, but the ball was too far out of her reach.
Substitute Amy Dicken almost got herself on the scoresheet. Merrick again worked the ball into the box and found the number 14 on the penalty spot. She struck without a touch, but the ball came bouncing back off the post.
The hosts had moments of possession as the half progressed, creating a few chances along the way, but their best opportunities all went wide of the post and nothing that was too troubling for Wilson between the sticks.
Substitute Maz Taho also almost got herself a goal, Beth Roberts putting the ball on a plate for her, but the striker’s effort was headed straight at the Loughborough shot-stopper.
It was, however, the clever run of Taho that won Wolves a penalty. Morphet stepped up confidently and fired the ball from 12 yards out to score goal number five.
Minutes before the final whistle, Morphet had the opportunity to play in a free-kick from the same spot in which she was awarded one early in the half. This time, Dicken leaped and headed the ball past substitute keeper Mia Smith and that was the last action of the game as the girls came away with an incredible win on the road.
Full-time | Loughborough 0-0 Wolves
REACTION
Dan McNamara was very pleased with his side’s performance today, showing him, they can turn around a mid-week disappointment and give it everything they’ve got away from home.
“It was everything we asked for,” said McNamara. “We were hugely disappointed with the manner in which we gave the game away on Wednesday and we wanted to put that right today.
“The girls were keen to get back on the grass and prove that it was just a blip and I think they did that. The way we set up caused Loughborough problems right from the start and probably the only disappointment is that we could’ve added to that tally where we had three or four great opportunities to score.
“Overall, it’s really pleasing. I was after a reaction from Wednesday and we got that and it sets us up nicely going into next week.”
On Dermody getting her second goal in two games…
“We’ve asked for a little bit more from her in the midfield; we want the tens and the eights to come up with a few more goals and Helen has done that. Two in two and they’ve been great finishes as well.
“I know she’s disappointed with a couple of chances she had early on in the game, but she definitely put it right with that strike. It’s great to see the midfield chipping in. Obviously Dicko has come off the bench and she’s scored, so they took on the challenge and it’s come to fruition which is great.”
On a complete 90 minutes of fluid football…
“It’s fantastic, they were creating chances until the 90th minute. We talk about being ruthless and there’s other sides in this league who are ruthless when they’re out in front. We’re trying to catch points and goal difference at the minute, so we asked them to be clinical in those areas.
“We were clinical to a certain degree, but it’s fantastic for us to get back on track with a 6-0 and the goal-scorers, they came from all over the pitch which was great to see again. Katie Johnson popped up with another one which is great, so really pleasing heading into next week.”
Coping with moments of pressure from Loughborough…
“Tier three is a good league with great sides right the way through it. We’re not going to come to a game and boss it right the way through. They’re always going to create some chances, they’ve got some great players in Kate Middleton and Georgia Stevens.
“Jade Arber caused us a few issues upfront, but the girls dealt with it really well after Wednesday’s disappointment and the way they handled the pressure and the manner in which we threw away that game, so delighted to see them come under a little bit of pressure and get through that.
On Anna Morphet’s penalty taking…
“I’m delighted for Morph. She enjoys being that penalty taker and she’s dispatched it perfectly. Fantastic for her to get on the scoresheet as well.”
On Maz Taho coming off the bench…
“Maz is really effective at what she does. We saw that she holds the ball up really well, she turns with it and she causes problems. I think after 75 minutes, asking Maz to come on is a nightmare for any defender.
“I think it was good that all five subs impacted the game. I thought they were all excellent, obviously Dicko as I said popped up with a goal, Laura Cooper has slotted in nicely at central midfield.
“Ali has come on and you know what you’re going to get out of her, she’s really tenacious and threatening. Anna Price and Maz have come on and done their jobs and they’ve all contributed to a great performance.”
Coming up…
Next up for Wolves is a chance to book a place in the final of the League Cup, as they travel down south to Grosvenor Vale to take on Watford, a team who last year dropped down from the Championship, sitting third in the southern division at the time of writing.
Wolves have happy memories of playing Watford, beating them in the FA Cup in 2021 4-1, a result that saw current players Jade Cross, Anna Morphet and Kelly Darby get on the scoresheet.
“We’re really excited. It’s a semi-final. We challenged the girls to get to a semi-final and now we want to go one further. We know Watford are going to be a great side, they dropped out the Championship last year and they’ve managed to keep a hold of a core group of their girls.
“Us travelling down there, we’re not going to be the favourites for the game, but we look forward to it. We want to be playing the best sides and it’ll give us a marker of where we’re at against a southern team and ultimately we want to make memories and hopefully we can make another at Watford and lead onto a final nicely at the end of the season.
“We’re going to have to be on it, prepare well and switch on and make sure we’re ready for a battle.”
NEXT FIVE
05/03/23 Watford (A) FAWNL LC
12/03/23 AFC Fylde (A)
16/03/23 West Brom (A)
19/03/23 West Brom (A) BCC
26/03/23 Huddersfield (H)
TEAMS
Loughborough | Webb (Smith 80), Sharpe, Wild-Goose, Walters (Purchase 65), Hateley, Taft (Strauss 85), Johnson (Richardson 78), Edwards (Young 46), Stevens, Arber, Middleton.
Wolves | Wilson, Morphet, E. Cross, George (Dicken 59), J. Cross, Dermody (Price 84), Holmes (Cooper 59), Johnson, Toussaint (Taho 71), Roberts, Merrick (Miller 71).
Report by Megan Garbutt
