Women’s report | Wolves 3-1 West Brom

13th October 2022

Wolves 3 (Morphet 45+2, J.Cross 57, Hughes 85) West Brom 1 (Warner 30)

Wolves came out on top in the Black Country derby under the New Bucks Head lights on Wednesday evening, as strikes from Jade Cross and Amber Hughes saw Dan McNamara’s team defeat West Bromwich Albion.

The old gold had to come from behind, after Phoebe Warner had given the Baggies the lead but on the stroke of half-time, Anna Morphet’s penalty drew the hosts level, and they went on to claim the three points.

A cagey start to the contest brought little in the way of chances, as both sides tried to dominate the midfield, and when the first opening arrived, it was the visitors who took advantage.

That chance fell to Warner, who found herself in space on the edge of the Wolves penalty area, and she hit a curling effort into the top left corner to put the visitors ahead at the half-hour mark.

Despite falling a goal behind, Wolves continued to shade proceedings, and they were rewarded on the stroke of half-time as the referee spotted a handball in the Albion area and referee Ryan Dobson pointed to the spot.

After Helen Dermody missed from the spot on Sunday, Morphet stepped up this time and confidently fired high to the right, sending Haydn-Jones the wrong way to draw Wolves level.

Half-time | Wolves 1-1 West Brom

The second half started much like the first, with few chances falling for either of the Black Country rivals, with a crucial sliding interception from first half goal scorer Morphet putting a swift end to West Brom’s first chance of the half.

However, when Jade Cross capitalised on a defensive error from Haydn-Jones’ spill, she took the opportunity to fire her side ahead, turning and sending the ball into an open net from a tight angle to complete the comeback.

Wolves almost added a third just minutes later as another goalkeeping error resulted in a scramble in the six-yard box and the ball being cleared off the line.

Opportunities for a third continued to appear throughout the remainder of the second half, and eventually Hughes scored her ninth of the season to give Wolves a two-goal lead with just five minutes to play, converting a low cross from close range.

Wolves had chances to add a fourth in the dying minutes but will not be disheartened, as they ran out 3-1 winners in the Black Country derby.

Full-time | Wolves 3-1 West Brom

REACTION

Post-match, head coach Dan McNamara said: “It’s amazing, absolutely amazing. The girls were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. We dominated the game from start to finish, they’ve broken away, a lapse of concentration from us and we go 1-0 down, but other than that I think the girls have been phenomenal, the way we kept the ball and kept banging on the door. We said at half-time we’ve got to keep going in this kind of performance and grind it out and that’s what we’ve done.”

On falling 1-0 down

“I’ve got full confidence in everything that these girls are doing, we set up a game plan, it didn’t go according to that plan because they’ve turned up and played a formation that isn’t normally what they play. The penalty was a great time for us to score, we deserved it.”

On turning it around

“Once we went ahead, we knew they had to change something, they’ve got to come out and try and have a go at us. I’m delighted for Jade (Cross), Jade has struggled for goals this year, that means a lot to her.”

On Hughes’ goals this season

“It was a fantastic performance again from her, she’s a remarkable person, remarkable player. Her determination to go out there and perform tonight was second to none, I’m delighted she’s got her goal.”

On this season so far.

“We wanted to approach this third of the season with realistic expectations, to have played Forest, Burnley and now the Black Country derby and be in and amongst it is credit to the girls, they’re phenomenal.”

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