Dan McNamara says ‘anything is possible’ as his Wolves Women side prepare to take on Brighton & Hove Albion.
There is a two-tier gap between the Old Gold and their Super League opponents but as the two go head-to-head in the fifth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup on Sunday, manager McNamara wants his players to have full belief that they can get a result.
On playing WSL opposition
“It’s amazing, we’re really looking forward to it. You’ve seen what memories we created last year against West Ham so to go one further this year and to be hosting Brighton will be a privilege to get a Super League team back to Telford for the second year running.
“The excitement’s building and the girls are really looking forward to testing themselves against some of the best players in the country.”
On deservedly beating Reading in the last round
“I think that was the most pleasing thing about the performance. From the word go, the girls were right at it and they thoroughly deserved it.
“People look at it and see an 88th minute winner, but I think it was a long time coming before that.
“The way they applied themselves, they played without any fear on that day after travelling all the way down to Reading.
“It was almost the perfect performance and probably one of the best ones of the season. They got their rewards and we’re looking to go one step further now and test ourselves against Super League opposition.”
On preparing for Brighton
“They played Manchester United last weekend and they’ve got Aston Villa in the week so I’m pretty sure their preparations for us will be different to playing Manchester United.
“We have to look at the teams in and around us. Luton Town, Charlton, the Championship teams and see how they’ve approached those kind of games to see if we can pick up anything.
“We’re not there to make the numbers. We know it’s a David and Goliath so we want to give a good account of ourselves.
“We want to make sure that the people who come to watch us and the people these girls represent week on week are proud of their performance.
“We’re doing everything we can in the background and we’re looking forward to it.”
On whether his team can win
“Anything is possible. If you don’t believe then there’s no point in being involved in sport. The girls definitely believe.
“We’ll put a game plan together and I keep referring back to West Ham last year, but we were 67 minutes in and I think we were shocking everybody.
“They had the big guns come off the bench to change the game but there’s no reason why we can’t go and cause problems.
“Brighton are going through a bit of a tough patch themselves, but unless you believe there’s no point in these cup runs we’re on and it’s all about making memories for us.
“We’ve made some fantastic ones over the last few years and why can’t we make a really huge one and get the club to the quarter-final?”
