Dan McNamara wants to see his Wolves Women side focus on getting their identity back at Newcastle United on Sunday.
There was disappointment in the changing room following last weekend’s draw with Stoke City, where McNamara felt it was a game the Old Gold should have taken three points from. Although the manager knows the difficulty of travelling to league leaders Newcastle, he believes if the team play to their full capabilities, there is no reason why they can’t produce a result and have an impact on the title race.
On final reflections on last Sunday
“We spoke in the circle at the end and I like to leave it there and let them reflect. We were back in on Tuesday and they weren’t happy with their own performances.
“There were various contributing factors. I would never have mentioned it on the day but they have to take into consideration what they went through over the last two weeks.
“Even up until three days before Stoke we had a couple of players who weren’t back in training fully fit.
“There are loads of external factors we need to take into that performance. However, I still feel we had more than enough within that group to take advantage of what should’ve been a good three points, but it wasn’t to be.”
On travelling to Newcastle
“It doesn’t come any tougher than that. They’re flying at the top of the league but you want to be playing against the best teams.
“We’re going to find ourselves playing against two of the best teams we possibly could over the next few weeks.
“Any away game is always tough, especially when you’re on the kind of wave that Newcastle are. It’s going to be tough going up there, they’re a full-time outfit so straight away you’re thinking how we’re going to manage the occasion, the physicality and everything that comes with that.
“We’ll go up there trying to put right what happened on Sunday. The girls are disappointed in what people saw from them and there’s no better way for them to bounce back against the best team in tier three as it stands at the minute. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
On what he’s looking for on Sunday
“I want to see everything that we probably didn’t see on Sunday. You look back to what we saw at Reading and it epitomises everything the group are about – hard work, representing the fans and the people of this city in the correct way with a great work ethic.
“I don’t think we saw that on Sunday. For whatever reason, we lacked that real edge to our game and that’s an area we’ll really be looking to see on Sunday.
“Forget about the result, forget about the performance. In the interim, let’s really focus on getting our identity back which is hard work and that often beats anything.
“We know it’s going to be tough. They’ve got some great players, fantastic players and one of them was obviously here last year in Naomi Bedeau.
“You look at their group and how strong they are and I don’t think we go up there with any pressure on ourselves.”
On affecting the title race
“We’ve got to go up there and make it difficult for them. The girls will play a big part in where this title goes.
“We’ve got Newcastle twice and we’ve got to play Forest again, so we’ll play a big part in the overall destination for the league.
“Away from that, we want to get back on track and make sure we are in and amongst it as close as we can be at the end of the season.
“We’ll then start planning for what will hopefully be the next step of the journey next season, but it starts this weekend.”
On new additions and the midfield area
“We want to understand who can help us on the journey going forward, and Skye’s (Owen) a perfect example.
“She was flying in tier four but we’ve really got to find out whether she can compete within a squad to try and win a league at tier three because that’s the end goal.
“We’ve brought her back in and she’s training really well. For the 20 minutes she came on for last Sunday I thought she really impacted the game and was probably the standout player.
“With regards to Meesha (Dudley-Jones), she’s been there and done it. She’s scored goals in the Championship so she’s someone we’re looking for in that longer term aims of the football club.
“There might be one more over the next few days that we bring into that central midfield area which has been tough this year.
“We’ve really missed H (Helen Dermody). As fantastic news as it is, that news didn’t come at a great time for us, so we’ve really missed her and her leadership in there.
“Also Summer (Holmes) as well. Sometimes we forget about Summer who’s working hard within the gym to try and get back on the pitch. She’s not had a good year in regard to injuries and luck.
“They’re two massive players. You look at their appearances and their contributions to the last two years where we were kicking around the top of the table – they were invaluable.”