Albion Women Manager Siobhan Hodgetts-Still says her team “deserved” their Black Country derby win on Sunday afternoon.
The Baggies were victorious at SEAH Stadium, as Hannah George’s headed strike was enough to secure a semi-final spot in the FAWNL Cup.
And Hodgetts-Still believes their victory was a “top team performance” as they battled to the final four of the competition in Shropshire.
She said: “I’m super proud of the players after that performance. We’re delighted to get the win and through to the next round of the cup.
“The girls were excellent today, both in and out of possession. We executed the gameplan brilliantly, we created some really good chances and we defended really well.
“I felt it was a top team performance.
“It was a great ball back in from Taylor and Hannah took the goal well. In both halves, on the transition especially, we were a real threat – we caused them lots of problems.
“Without some great last-minute defending from them, we could’ve had a few more goals this afternoon.
“You saw it at the end there, with our staff and players, what it meant to everyone. We know how good Wolves can be, and we’ve not always had the best run of games with them, but the players deserved that today.
“We took the game to them, and we’re delighted to get that win, and the players are all buzzing. We’re really happy tonight.
“We said at the start of the season, we wanted to progress in every cup and we’re down to the last four now, it doesn’t get much better than that. We know what a good team AFC Bournemouth were, but we’ll stick to our task and plan for that game as we always do – let’s see if we can make a final again.”
Defender George is Albion’s longest-serving player and having rarely tasted derby day victory in her time at the club, to score the winning goal, and her first in the fixture is something she’s “waited a long time” for.
She said: We’re all buzzing with the win. We’ve had a slow start to the second half of the season with cancellations but we’ve grafted today.
“I’m super proud of the girls today. It’s going to give us a positive outlook for the second half of the season, but we’ve not always had the best results and hopefully this will give us confidence going into the next one.
“(For the goal) I was just thinking, get something on the ball and flick it on. I got the header towards goal, and I was hoping for the best, I’ve waited a long time to score against Wolves so it’s a great time to get it.
“I wasn’t surprised at all to see it, I knew I had contact on it and that the ‘keeper was on the way out. I had hope that I could get it over her, and if I did, it was always going in – I’m buzzing.”
