Wolves Women 1 (Wilkie 6)
Birmingham & West Midlands Ladies 3 (Painter 2, Bryan 56, Gallop 82)
Report by Callum Doughty, photograph by Mark Birchill.
The hosts were behind with almost the first attack of the game, just two minutes in. A free kick from the right was swung in and Emily Painter met it sweetly on the volley to fire past Katie Clarke in the Wolves goal.
Wolves pulled themselves level just minutes later. Chloe Williams’ cross from the right found Charlotte Wilkie who powerfully headed the ball into the net.
The home side continued to pile on the pressure and went close on several occasions through Wilkie, Lowri Walker and Andrea Barnett.
The best chance fell to Williams who exchanged passes with Charlotte Criddle on the edge of the area after some fantastic work down the right wing, but she was denied brilliantly by Shan Turner in the opposition goal.
Despite the promising end to the first-half, Wolves were slow out the blocks after the break and should have been behind again after two minutes, but Stephanie Weston could only head wide from yards out.
Birmingham & West Midlands Ladies soon retook the lead through substitute Lauryn Bryan, who tapped the ball in after some good work down the left wing.
Wolves pushed hard to get themselves back on level terms but eventually found themselves further behind as Evangeline Gallop fired in from a tight angle and secured all three points for the visitors.
The result sees Wolves Women fall below Birmingham & West Midlands Ladies in the league table into third place, but they still have the advantage of two games in hand.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Charlotte Wilkie’s equalising goal was a huge moment in the first half as it got Wolves back in the game not long after they had fallen behind. The goal enabled them to apply plenty of pressure to Birmingham & West Midlands.
QUOTES
Manager Dan McNamara found the defeat difficult to take. He said: “We’re really disappointed. I’m not too sure what was wrong with us today, we just never got going. I don’t think we created opportunities like we have been doing, we didn’t make chances count.
“We’ve got to get ourselves together, put things right ahead of our next game against Burton.”
COMING UP
Wolves Women have another home game this Sunday 17th February as they entertain Burton Albion Ladies at CKW Stadium, Castlecroft, with a 2pm kick off in the FA Women’s Premier League Division One.
NEXT FIVE
- 17/02 - Burton Albion Ladies (H)
- 27/02 - Sporting Khalsa (H)
- 10/03 - Nettleham (A)
- 13/03 - The New Saints (A)
- 07/04 - Bedworth United (H)
TEAMS
Wolves | Clarke, Butler, Price, E Cross (Widdal), Anslow, Barnett, Walker, Jones, Wilkie (J Cross), Williams, Criddle (Haynes).
Subs | George, Morphet.
BWML | Turner, Steele, Bracelli, Lloyd, Hargreaves, Jennings, Painter, Gallop, Bacciochi (Bryan), Harms (Chandler), Weston.
