Despite opening day victory, Dan McNamara wants to see an improvement in the final third from his side in the coming games.
Wolves Women secured all three points with a 4-0 win over Stourbridge at the SEAH Stadium, but manager McNamara has admitted that the quality in the final third wasn’t up to the standard he wants to see. However, he has praised the impact of the young players who came off the bench and has stressed the importance of utilising the squad with games coming thick and fast.
On opening day victory
“There were some good moments and some good stuff we’ve shown throughout pre-season, but I thought we were very poor.
“We didn’t value the ball well, didn’t move the ball like we have been doing and then final third stuff was miles off it today.
“The actual entries into the final third were good. We put some good balls into the box, but it was one of those where we take the 4-0 to open the season, which is normally a great result and there are plenty of positives in it, but I thought we were a little way off where we want to be.”
On the performances of younger players
“If you’re asking me for a positive from today, it was the three youth players that came off the bench and I include Josie (Smith) in that as well.
“I thought she was outstanding and it’s the link between the two loan players coming back who get us the third goal with Josie and Ania (Denham).
“Amelia Hiscox came on and to impose herself on the game the way she did at 16, she has a very bright future in the game. I could tell she was enjoying it because she started doing little tricks and that wasn’t what we talked about on the bench, but fair play to her.
“If she goes out and keeps executing what we’ve asked her to do like she did do today, then she’s going to go a long way.
“Marty (MacPhail) was the same and Ania. Ania’s had a tough 12 months, she’s been out on loan, scored goals at tier four and we’re asking questions of whether she can do it at senior level now. To score a goal was fantastic for her and overall those three players were the real standouts from today, plus Josie, in a day of mixed emotions.”
On the coming weeks
“We’ve got some big games coming up and the three-game weeks come quite quickly, so we’ve got to make sure we’re utilising our players well and making sure we’re getting minutes in players.
“Layla (Banaras) missed out today, her registration came through really late so we had to juggle that one over the last 24 hours – she’ll be fresh ready to go for next week.
“It’s going to be a long hard season. I said to the girls before, we’ve got Destiney Toussaint knocking back on the door now and then there are a couple of players we might bring into the squad over the next seven days.
“It’s competitive and that’s what we want. I like competition within the squad.”
