A Charlotte Greengrass brace complemented a dominant performance from Wolves Women as they beat Rugby Borough to go third on Sunday afternoon.
Dan McNamara made seven changes to his side that beat AFC Fylde last Sunday to progress through to the next round of the FAWNL Plate, and two changes from the most recent league match against Sporting Khalsa.
The two sides came into the game level on 16 points – Rugby in second and Wolves in fourth – and alongside tallying points on the league table there was added incentive for Wolves after their defeat to Rugby in the Birmingham Challenge Cup final last season.
In a cup final meeting that saw eight goals in May, the opening 20 minutes lacked the same eventful goalscoring opportunities.
Amber Hughes threatened first with two half-chances missing the target, firstly a headed effort following a cross from a free-kick before the forward ambitiously attempted a long-range volley that skied the crossbar.
Both sides enjoyed spells of possession without any domination throughout the first quarter of the game as each of them tentatively looked for an opening.
The first good pattern of play from the home side came in the 30th minute as Katie Johnson played a ball through Rugby’s midfield into the feet of Hughes, who took the ball in her stride but could only find the hands of Anna Pedersen in the away net.
Wolves started to gain more control in the final 15 minutes of the half and action started to predominantly take place in the Rugby half but, despite this, no clear-cut chances came to fruition.
The first half sparked into life for Wolves with only a minute left as, in the space of 60 seconds, the home side had three opportunities to score, with Greengrass going close first but her close-range effort missed the target.
Beth Merrick then struck Pedersen’s outstretched leg after she met a Johnson cross, before finally Wolves could not find the net from a corner that ended in a Rugby clearance after a goalmouth scramble.
Half-time | Wolves 0–0 Rugby
The visitors started the second half bright and for the first five minutes they had pinned Wolves into their own half, but only managed to get one shot off through Ebony Wiseman but her volleyed effort failed to trouble Bec Thomas.
Thomas was, however, tested in the 54th minute asRugby worked it well across the pitch and found Katy Morris venturing into the penalty area from right-back, but the Wolves goalkeeper stood tall to keep out the away side’s first clear chance.
Wolves then got their deserved goal in the 56th minute through a well-worked goal. Merrick picked up the ball in the centre of the pitch and played a driven ball across to Destiney Toussaint on the right wing, before Toussaint crossed an inviting ball in and Greengrass was there to head in her third goal of the season.
The home side backed up their opener with more spells of good football and it took 10 minutes for Rugby to create a chance to respond. Bethan Roberts struck well from inside the penalty area, but Wolves’ Beth Roberts was there to block the shot.
The clock showed 70 minutes and Greengrass netted her second of the game, as Hughes got to the byline inside the penalty area before her cut-back met the foot of Wolves’ number 12 who rippled the back of the net.
Wolves refused to fall to complacency and kept up their good performance with 15 minutes remaining as they limited the away side to minimal chances to gain momentum in the contest.
McNamara’s side fended off any chance of a comeback from Rugby and dropped deeper and deeper as it reached the 90th minute mark to defend Thomas in net.
The final whistle blew, and Wolves made it six games unbeaten while climbing above their opponents in the league table.
Full-time | Wolves 2–0 Rugby
LINEUPS
Wolves | Thomas, Morphet, George, Hughes (Loydon 80), Greengrass (J. Cross 90+2), Johnson, Anderson, Toussaint, Roberts, Jenner, Merrick.
Subs not used | Clarke, Banaras, Quigley, Fryer, Denham.
Rugby | Pedersen, Mann, Nixon, Greenslade (Shaw 67), Wiseman, Potts, Brown (Moncaster 77), Morris (Rush 77), Robert, Mosby, Roberts.
Subs not used | Peterkin, Malone, Camwell, Barton.
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Report by Callum Greybanks
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