Dan McNamara had no complaints after Wolves Women were beaten by Stoke City in the determining round of the League Cup.
The 3-1 defeat at the SEAH Stadium means the Old Gold will now compete in the Plate competition this season, and McNamara has spoken on the game, the performances of younger players and Sunday’s game at home to Nottingham Forest.
On being beaten by Stoke
“No complaints from me. It's always tough getting beat, especially in a derby. You've got to be comfortable with the decisions you make and I've put young players on the pitch tonight and they've got to learn. They've got to learn from that disappointment.
“I think we're comfortable at 1-0. I think we've ridden the storm in the first half. We've done our half-time well, and we've gone 1-0 up. It's stupidity and something that is totally unnecessary that then turns the game on its head.
“When you've got 10 players for 35 minutes, it's then a real struggle to stay in the game. I thought the girls were excellent for the 40/50 minutes that we had 11 v 11. It's a completely different game once the red card comes.”
On the performances of youngers players
“She (Ania Denham) had a really good game tonight. I thought the girls did well. I thought Josie Smith was excellent. I thought Abi (Loydon) was doing well. I thought Ania was tremendous.
“It's the key moments. It's the key moments where the experience comes in. These are the opportunities that cups like this allow and there'll be plenty more now we drop into the plate, and we've never played in the plate. We've never been part of that so it'll be an interesting journey.
“Now going forward, I'm sure there'll be plenty of minutes for the younger players, and hopefully they can take their experiences from tonight into whatever they get in the future.”
On facing Forest on Sunday
“It'll be tough Sunday without what's going on tonight, but losing Summer Homes and losing Tammi (George) and losing Abi Loydon with a red card.
“I'm not too sure where we're going to go Sunday yet. I think I need to get back in tomorrow morning and then try and put some kind of game plan together to stop arguably the best team that tier three has ever seen, but I enjoy a challenge.
“Sunday is not a season definer. It's an opportunity for us to come up against the favourites. Ultimately, they should go on and win the league with the fortunes that they've got.
“We're here to try and put a blocker in the way and try and cause them a few issues - hopefully we can do that.”
