Wolves Women captain Anna Morphet was pleased with the Old Gold’s performance despite a 2-0 defeat on the WSL2 opening day.
Wolves were defeated by Newcastle United at the Gateshead International Stadium after conceding both goals in the opening 18 minutes.
However, Morphet was pleased with Wolves’ performance, mentioning how they have worked on their defensive shape while highlighting that this is the first professional game for many in Dan McNamara’s squad.
On the performance
“There are a lot of positives to take. We are gutted; obviously we want to come here and take something away from the game.
“It says something about this group that we’ve come away against a brilliant team who are going to be competing at the top of the league this season and are disappointed with a result of 2-0.
“The two moments that led to their goals, they’re transition moments that we know are so important at this level, so we’ll learn a lot, and there are lots of positives to take from this game.”
On the defensive shape
“It’s something we've worked on a lot, being comfortable without the ball and being hard to beat. I think we really limited them to few chances.
“Obviously they’re a good team, so there are going to be moments where you’ve got to put your body on the line, but then at the other end of the pitch we caused them problems at times.
“There are positives to take, lots to learn, and we’ll go on and attack next week.”
On the positives that Wolves can take into other difficult away matches
“We limited their opportunities; it was 0-0 in the second half. I think it would have been easy for us to capitulate in the second half.
“But there’s a lot of pride in this team and a lot of heart and in that second half we showed a good bit of grit and desire and created chances at the other end.
“[There are] lots of positives and lots to learn for next week.”
On this being the first professional game for many of the Wolves squad
“It’s always important that we look at the journey we’ve been on.
“There’s been a lot of talk before this season started. We’ve almost got to park that now and keep creating more history and look at where we’ve come from, but we’ve worked to compete at this level.
“We’ve competed out there today, and we can be really proud of that and [if] we carry on [taking] what it means to play for Wolves into every game this season, I think we’ll have a positive result at the end of it.”