Wolves women column: History-makers shining on the big stage

Since my last column a fortnight ago it has been another really positive period of the season for Wolves Women – and a history making one at that. 

Our televised match against Stoke in the FA Cup was an incredible occasion for the club and of course it had to one of our own, Beth Merrick, to score a stunning goal like she did in front of the cameras as well as one of the fan favourites Racheal Quigley. 

There was natural worry that the occasion may have got to the players and although we didn’t play at our best at times, it was a solid winning performance, a deserved victory and the girls showed a real professionalism about them to get the job done.

It was also incredible to have over 850 supporters inside the SEAH Stadium for the game – our highest at Telford since the Manchester United game last season. It could have been so easy to stay inside in the warm and watch the game on the TV but our incredible supporters came out in force, helped by some excellent ticket pushes from the wider Wolves social media team, and ultimately helped get us over the line.

Our reward for that win was a home tie against one of our old rivals Nottingham Forest, who pipped us to the title last season. Incredibly, the TV companies have picked us again and this time we will be on Channel 4, which opens up an even wider audience to Wolves Women. 

A few of us said it ‘had to be’ when we drew Forest. Several of our players, including their title winning captain Lyndsey Harkin, signed for us last summer, a few have played for them previously and even a couple of staff members are Forest fans. 

Unfortunately the SEAH Stadium is unavailable due to an AFC Telford United match so we are very thankful to Hednesford Town to be hosting us this time around on what is a world class surface and a superb venue and I’m sure for some of our supporters it is slightly closer to home too, so it will superb if we can get another decent crowd in.

While we are all excited for the contest, we have league action to focus on first. Two goals from Charlotte Greengrass secured a confident victory at Derby last weekend and this Sunday we host Liverpool Feds, who will prove another tricky test. 

Their league position probably masks the fact they score a decent amount of goals and they have run some of the top sides in this division very close this season so we will not be taking them lightly. It will be our final match at Telford in this calendar year, so let’s make sure we sign off with three more points towards our ultimate goal.

Finally, it was great to see the club host the first ever Women’s Fans' Focus group at the end of the last month, with fans of the club and senior members of the board and women’s advisory board coming together to discuss the future of Wolves Women and how we can all work together to improve things such as match day experience, away travel and operations. We all look forward to seeing how further meetings can shape the future of our fantastic team.

Thanks for your support,

Macca