Wolverhampton Wanderers Women are currently flying this season in the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division.
The old gold are currently sat second in the division, just five points off leagues leaders, Nottingham Forest. With only one team in contention to be promoted, Wolves are aiming to achieve another table-topping season, after last season’s 1-0 play-off defeat to Southampton – who are now third in the Barclay’s Women Championship.
Wolves are led by Dan McNamara, who has been in charge of the Midlands club since the beginning of 2018 and has enjoyed continued growth and success with the club. Wolves are also the reigning holders of the Birmingham County Cup after defeating local rivals, West Bromwich Albion in the final last season. In fact, Wolves Women are set to play their local rivals twice in four days. Wolves will seek to keep pace with Forest as they travel to play Albion tonight, and last season’s County Cup finalists are set to meet on Sunday in the semi-final, with the winner facing either Burton Albion or Stourbridge.
Heading into the 2022/23 season, the old gold moved to a new stadium to play their home matches – Telford United’s New Bucks Head stadium, a ground that has a capacity of 5,500. A potential reason for McNamara’s sides’ successes this season could be place under Wolves ‘one club’ ethos. This results in both the men’s and women’s first team sharing state-of-the-art facilities like the training ground and the analysis capabilities; additions that undoubtedly give Wolves Women an advantage compared to their other league rivals.
Only a few weeks ago, there would have been one eye of treble-winning season amongst the Wolves squad. However, this dream stayed a dream as they exited the League Cup at the competitions semi-final at the hands of Watford – suffering a 2-0 loss.
A key figure for Wolves is long serving member and their number-nine, Jade Cross. After joining the club at the age of nine, the prolific striker has gone onto to score 150 first-team goals for the club. However, goals aren’t only thing that she adds to the side. A veteran in the dressing room, the striker has the leadership capabilities when her side needs them the most.
Beth Merrick is also considered a valuable part of Wolves’ midfield set-up. Merrick, who has played for England at youth level, where she scored a hat-trick against Belgium in the European Championships, arrived at Wolverhampton in the summer of 2021. She is a versatile player, which no doubt is useful to McNamara.
Wolves only have six games left in the league, and will be pushing now at the business end of the season to ensure they can retain their title as well as avenge their play-off defeat last time out.
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