Burnley 1 (Embley 62) Wolves Women (Morphet 69)
Wolves Women continued their unbeaten start to the 2023/24 FA Women’s National League campaign as they drew 1-1 with Burnley.
Leah Embley opened the scoring shortly after the hour mark for the home side, before Wolves struck back through Anna Morphet’s sublime free-kick to take away a share of the spoils.
Dan McNamara’s side started brightly but it was Burnley who found the net first, however they were judged to be offside, and the flag was straight up.
Amber Hughes had her first chance of the game not long after, but her free-kick was straight at Kirstie Levell before Beth Roberts saw her effort go over the crossbar.
Beth Merrick had the next real opportunity to break the deadlock with a free-kick outside the box but her set-piece struck the wall before Merrick Will hit the rebound over the top.
The Clarets began to grow into the game as the first half ticked by with Embley seeing an effort go wide, before a corner fell to Lizzie Hamer who was waiting at the back post, but her header saw the ball go out for a goal kick.
Merrick then had the best opportunity for Wolves during the first half when she broke in behind Burnley’s back line, but Georgia Marshall recovered quickly to make a well timed block.
Half-time | Burnley 0-0 Wolves
Burnley started the second half brightly with Millie Ravering seeing a shot go into the arms of Shan Turner and Aimee Kelly’s low effort was blocked before it could reach the goal.
The Old Gold’s defence was standing strong, holding off waves of Burnley attacks and limiting them to shots from distance with McPartlan firing over and Kelly’s effort deflecting into the hands of Turner.
The hosts would be the ones to break the deadlock, however, as Alethea Paul’s driven cross flashed across goal, and a mix up between Turner and Roberts allowed the ball to fall to Embley who was waiting at the back post to fire home.
They wouldn’t lead for long though as the referee awarded a free-kick around 35 yards from goal and Morphet struck it beautifully into the top corner to level the score.
Both sides had opportunities to take the lead, with Destiney Toussaint having an effort cleared before Burnley had a penalty shout turned down. Embley was brought down by Turner in the box and the referee initially pointed to the spot before giving a free-kick the other way.
Turner would be called into action again not long after when she made a crucial save not long before the final whistle to tip an effort from distance over the bar.
Full-time | Burnley 1-1 Wolves
TEAMS
Burnley | Levell, Cooper, Marshall (Deehan ‘45+4), Wildgoose, Paul, McPartlan, Lord-Mears, Embley, Ravening, Hamer (Coleman-Evans ‘88), Kelly (Elford ‘69).
Subs not used | Farrell, Francis-Jones.
Wolves | Turner, Wilson, Morphet, George, Will, Dermody © (Ferguson ‘68), Hughes (J Cross ‘84), Johnson, Toussaint, Roberts, Merrick.
Subs not used | E. Cross, Dicken, Fryer.
By Bek Howell
