West Brom 0 Wolves 3 (Morphet 9, Hughes 20, Sims 89)
Wolves Women enjoyed derby day delight against West Bromwich Albion Women at the Alexander Stadium, leaving them top of the tree at Christmas.
Anna Morphet and Amber Hughes gave Dan McNamara’s side the perfect start, with goals inside 20 minutes to put Wolves ahead.
Amy Sims, approaching second-half stoppage time, then put the three points beyond doubt in style, striking a worldie from distance.
Wolves started brightly and reaped their rewards inside the opening 10 minutes. For the second time in three games - last time at home to Liverpool Feds - Morphet converted directly from a corner kick.
The visitors wanted more and continued to dominate proceedings. Louanne Worsey was next to try her luck, stinging the palms of former Wolves shot stopper Charlotte Clarke from close range.
Moments later, Wolves doubled their advantage 20 minutes in. It was route one football via Amy Sims, as the midfielder flicked on Alex Brooks’ long ball perfectly into the path of Hughes, she did well to shrug off her marker and slide the ball into the bottom corner.
Albion searched for their way back into the contest but came up short throughout the first half, with traffic constantly against them. Sims was next to have a sight of goal after meeting Charlotte Greengrass’ lay off, but Clarke did enough to force the midfielder into striking wide.
The hosts had a rare glimpse of hope to pull a goal back before half-time. Firstly, Brooks was to thank when she pounced on Monique Robinson’s loose touch to sniff out the danger.
Moments later, Rhianne Oakley ran through on goal, but she dragged her effort wide of the target.
Half-Time | West Brom 0-2 Wolves
The second period slowly got underway, with neither side able to take control early on. Taylor Reynolds offered an encouraging outlet for the hosts down the right, dinking a cross towards the back post which had Brooks interested, but to her relief, the ball sailed onto the roof of the net.
Approaching the 70th minute mark, Wolves continued to search for their third goal, and Greengrass had two golden opportunities to extend the lead.
First, Sims sent Greengrass through on goal but the forward blazed her effort over the upright, before agonisingly crashing the crossbar with a lovely dinked effort over Clarke.
Beth Merrick almost marked her name on the scoresheet just minutes later, but Clarke denied her first-time effort from inside the area.
Despite a threatening start to the second half from the hosts, Wolves managed the game well and increasingly stifled their opposition as the game progressed.
With the clock ticking to an end, Sims topped off a superb display with an even better strike. The midfielder picked up the ball on the edge of the area and struck a stunner into the top corner.
However, not long after, Sims was dismissed after seeing a second yellow with just minutes to play.
Despite a player disadvantage, Wolves more than held on for the three points, impressively seeing off their Black Country rivals.
Full-Time | West Brom 0-3 Wolves
LINEUPS
West Brom | Clarke, Day, Green, George, Reynolds, Rabjohn, Orthodoxou, Haughey, Warner, Oakley, Robinson.
Unused Subs | Johnson, Jhamat, Watkins, May, Sorrentino, Pullen, Evans.
Wolves | Brooks, Harkin, Marshall, Morphet (Loydon 87), Johnson, Sims, Anderson, Worsey (Robertson 65), Merrick, Hughes (Roberts 79), Greengrass (Quigley 87).
Unused Subs | Thomas, Williams, Jenner.
