West Brom 0 Wolves 8 (George 27, 78, Greengrass 36, 45, 64, 66, Merrick 40, J. Cross 74)
A sensational Black Country derby ended in a dominant victory for Wolves Women as they pulled apart West Brom at The Hawthorns on Sunday afternoon.
Four goals in either half meant the Old Gold put eight past their local rivals to complete a ruthless display in front of goal, as Charlotte Greengrass was the star of the show with four goals of her own.
Wolves came into the derby just one point off top spot as their local rivals, West Brom, sat in eight place and nine points behind.
As well as a good start to the league campaign, Wolves also looked to stretch their winning run of 10 games against West Brom to 11.
Dan McNamara named an unchanged side to the team that beat Rugby Borough last time out, with captain Anna Morphet making her 150th appearance for the club.
Wolves started bright and looked to test the home side early. The first chance of the game fell to Wolves’ Amber Hughes just seven minutes in after Katie Johnson’s cross wasn’t dealt with by the West Brom defence, but Hughes’ effort failed to get past Anna Miller in the home net.
The game looked to take shape early on, as the hosts sat deep with a midfield four in front of a back-five, against an attacking Wolves side who dominated possession in the Albion half.
Following a strong start, Wolves capitalised on their dominance and opened the scoring with an Morphet free-kick finding Tammi George who slid in to turn the delivery home.
YES, @tammigeorgeee! 🫡 pic.twitter.com/5jcd83H9e6
— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) October 13, 2024
The away side wanted more and got their wish just nine minutes later through Greengrass after Beth Merrick danced past her marker to reach the byline and found the Wolves number 12 free in the six-yard-box to cooly tap home.
Two became three in the 40th minute when Merrick was played through on goal and clinically finished into the bottom corner to score her fifth goal of the season.
Wolves showed no mercy and made it four just before half-time as Greengrass scored her second of the game; Wolves found joy in behind the Albion defence all game as the forward went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and showed composure to finish into the net.
Half-time | West Brom 0-4 Wolves
George, Greengrass, Merrick, Greengrass.
— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) October 13, 2024
A simply stunning first 45 minutes 😍 pic.twitter.com/9tsIXjebbn
The half-time break did no harm to Wolves’ performance as they came out with the same hunger as the first half, Greengrass found herself running through the West Brom defence again but this time opted for a square-pass rather than a shot that failed to find an onrushing Destiney Toussaint.
A rare quiet period in the game followed up until the 60th minute, as Toussaint came closest in that time with a headed effort from Beth Roberts’ cross going wide.
That quiet period, however, was deafened by Greengrass getting her hat-trick in the 64th minute, as a replica of Roberts’ cross just moments ago was this time headed in to make it five.
Just two minutes went by before Greengrass grabbed her fourth of the game to make it six goals in her last two games, this time her hard work in the penalty area was rewarded as she picked up a loose ball and turned it home from close range.
⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/obEcTeyewl
— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) October 13, 2024
Jade Cross was introduced in the 67th minute and got on the scoresheet just seven minutes later, as Greengrass turned provider and set up an onrushing Cross who calmly struck into the bottom right corner to score her 170th goal for the club.
George continued the rout to make it eight in the 78th minute, as her long-range effort proved tough to deal with for the goalkeeper as she was unable to prevent the ball crossing the line despite getting her gloves to it.
It turned out to be a phenomenal afternoon for the Old Gold side of the Black Country as Wolves ran out triumphant winners over West Brom to extend their unbeaten run to seven games and winning run against their rivals to 11.
Full-time | West Brom 0-8 Wolves
LINEUPS
West Brom | Miller, Brown, Reynolds, Green, George (Jhamat 72), Haughey, Evans, Warner, May (Oakley 72), Rabjohn (Watkins 72), Rhodes-Andrews (Mahmood 59).
Subs not used | Pullen, Harris, Whittick.
Wolves | Thomas, Morphet, George, Hughes (Quigley 75), Greengrass (Denham 75), Johnson, Anderson (Banaras 67), Toussaint (J. Cross 67), Roberts, Jenner, Merrick (Loydon 59).
Subs not used | Clarke, Fryer.
NEXT FIVE
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17/11/2024 Stourbridge (A) FAWNL Northern Premier Division
15/12/2024 Derby (H) FAWNL Northern Premier Division
Report by Callum Greybanks
