Dan McNamara insists Wolves Women must be proud of their performance against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Despite exiting the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, the Old Gold held their Super League opponents for the majority of the tie and were minutes away from forcing extra time. However, an eight-minute hat-trick from Emma Kullberg brought a close to this season’s cup campaign following another record-breaking afternoon at the New Bucks Head. Manager McNamara has commended the efforts of his side, the crowd at Telford and also the quality of the Seagulls that eventually shone through.
On exiting the FA Cup
“It’s tough to take at the end of the day. I don’t like standing here and saying 4-1 wasn’t the scoreline.
“If we put a bit of context on it, in the 86th minute we’re one each and me and my staff are planning for extra-time.
“That shows the level that you’re coming up against. Super League opposition and you switch off.
“We can’t be disheartened or down – we’ve got to be nothing but proud. I thought we were tremendous. We stuck to a game plan which we’d worked hard on this week.
“All that belief you’ve been trying to instil into the girls, you could see it on the pitch. They’re fighting and they want to die for the badge.
“Everyone here today has seen what this group are all about. They’re tremendous, they’re absolutely tremendous and we need to keep giving them the platform to go on and succeed because they’re an amazing group, amazing staff.
“1,800 people in here to watch it is amazing so I’m really proud. The players will be disappointed now but they’ll look back on this in days to come and they’ll be really proud of their efforts.”
On the support at Telford
“The support was amazing. I came over at half-time because we split the game down into six games today.
“We felt if we won four of them we’d have a chance. We won four of them and unfortunately we haven’t done it.
“At half-time, I saw their heads drop and I just wanted the crowd to show them what they’d done in that first half – it was amazing, so it just gave them a little lift.
“When I got into the dressing room, their heads were down because they’d conceded a goal. That shows the mentality of this group – they were disappointed to have conceded a goal against Brighton.
“The crowd were amazing. The second half, I’m so glad we got what they deserved in a goal because you felt it. It was an amazing thing to be hear and feel that goal go in.
“From the on in, every attack we had you could hear them and it spurred the girls on.”
On Brighton
“They’re top players, top top players. We joked at half-time that they’re bringing on the ex-Spanish captain and we’ve got teachers and physiotherapists on the bench – that’s the amazing part about the FA Cup. It’s an amazing competition to be involved in.
“They’re a classy outfit and you’d expect that from the Super League. From the manager right the way down.
“I know one of their coaches and he’s got a lot of time for people. I’m really looking forward to discussing with their manager now, I’ve asked him to help us out with what he saw during the game.
“The players are a credit to Brighton, as are the players a credit to Wolves. We wanted to make it a really competitive game, which is what it was.
“Football and women’s football especially wins today for me. It was a fantastic day.”
On West Brom next week
“There’s no point in coming here and competing and executing a game plan like that if we’re not going to do that weekly.
“The thing that we have done this year is not be consistent with our performances – that’s the challenge for the girls now.
“We’re halfway through the season and we’ve got to start showing some consistency in what we’re doing. That starts next weekend in the semi-final of a cup.
“Hopefully we can bring what we’ve seen today and really go for it next week.”
