Wolves Women head coach Dan McNamara was pleased to see his players come out on the right side of a tough opening day fixture at Derby County.
Goals from debutant Ellie Wilson and Amber Hughes were enough to seal a 2-1 victory, but Wolves were made to work hard for the three points against the Ewes. McNamara has praised the ability of his players to grind out a result when coming up against pressure, as well as the performances of new signings Wilson, Merrick Will and Liv Fergusson.
On winning on opening day
“It was a tough one and it’s a fantastic result. They’re a great side – credit to Sam (Griffiths) and to the whole of Derby. They were an outstanding outfit there today.
“In the first half is where we probably won the game. We knew what Derby were about, we knew they were going to play in that 4-4-2 diamond which is really difficult to deal with if we don’t deal with it properly.
“We knew how relentless the press was so we talked about just missing it out and I thought we got some great success from that in the first half.
“The two goals came first from a set-piece and the second one is Amber Hughes all over – you get the ball into her and she’ll do special things. Fortunately that’s won us the game here today.
“It was a fantastic first half performance and the second half was about resilience, a bit of grit and determination to get a result.
“I said to the girls that I don’t think there will be many sides that win here this year, not easily anyway. It’s a superb result for us.”
On how the new signings played
“The new additions have been fantastic. We were a little bit disappointed that international clearance came through for Liv (Fergusson) quite late, so we were struggling with the planning and how we could fit her in.
“Thankfully we were able to get her on the pitch towards the end of the game.
“I thought Ellie (Wilson) was fantastic at right-back. You’ve seen how dangerous she can be from attacking plays and also how solid she is defensively.
A debut goal for @elliej_wilson 🤌 pic.twitter.com/OpLgFLfzp1
— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) August 22, 2023
“Merrick Will was fantastic. Her calmness towards the end to get the ball down and add an element of control when we were a bit frantic was phenomenal.
“I’m really pleased with all three. We didn’t get to see Hannah (Fryer) today but she’ll play a big part this season.”
On grinding out a result
“It’s about showing heart, desire and willingness to put your body on the line to get a result – I thought they did that today.
“This place erupted when they scored and all of a sudden it’s backs against the wall. You’ve got to try and grind a result out.
“There were some fantastic performances out there today. Not so much quality, but real desire to get a result for the shirt.”
