At the half way stage of the Winter League, Wolverhampton occupied bottom place in the Premier division of the closely contested WSL and only an improved set of results this evening would avoid them slipping down into the Championship.Our task wasn't made any easier when we saw that we were facing North Shropshire,who were sitting at the top of the league, in the opening fixture but our girls rose to the challenge and grabbed an excellent 1-1 result.They had two stand out players and the whole team had to work hard to nullify their impact on the game, but with Meg in particular performing heroics in midfield, we were able to stem the tide until the opposition opened the scoring with a good shot past Poppy in the Wolverhampton goal. Lesser teams would have buckled but we kept working hard and were rewarded when Rosie did brilliantly to get a great shot on target. Whilst the Keeper saved she couldn’t hold onto the ball and Layla was in the right place to score from close range.Indeed, Layla almost got a late winner but a draw was probably a fair outcome.
Buoyed by the previous outcome Wolverhampton started the game against South Staffordshire in determined fashion and a shot from Aoife, which hit the post, almost gave us an early lead but we didn't have to wait long for the opener. After a great move which started deep in our half Rosie played the ball out to Issy and Layla then made no mistake when latching on to a wonderful through ball to give the keeper no chance.Rosie then made it 2-0 with a driven shot from out wide on the right and we finished in style with another tremendous effort.Meg winning the ball in midfield, avoiding an attempted tackle, before driving home a great shot to round off a superb performance. The girls were full of confidence now and using the wind behind them to its full advantage in their third match against Kings Norton, Rosie found Alarna with a great pass who shot low into the corner of the net. Alarna then saw another good effort come back off the post, before a through ball from Meg found Layla who scored to seal a comfortable 2-0 win.
The final game of the night was against Walsall and a victory would have enabled us to finish as league runners up which would have been a tremendous achievement considering our position at the start of the evening but we fell just short and were beaten in a game of limited chances. The decisive goal coming from the boot of the Walsall keeper who launched the ball from her hands and stood and watched as it promptly sailed over Poppy before landing in our net. Some good performances, and finishing third behind North Shropshire and Walsall is certainly no disgrace, but there is obviously lots for the girls still to work on.
Squad: Poppy, Georgia, Alarna, Meg, Rosie, Clara, Layla, Elyssia, Issy, Aoife
