Page 14 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.20 2022-23

Wolves Women are locked in a battle to keep hold of the FAWNL
Northern Premier Division title they won last season and on
Sunday, they gave their hopes a huge boost by beating leaders
Nottingham Forest 3-1.
Katie Johnson has been a key player for Wolves during the
course of the season and she told us that the win “meant a lot” to
the players, and that she thinks that the title race could well go all
the way before it is decided:
WSS: Well done on your win on Sunday, would you say
that was the most important result this season to date?
KJ: It was definitely a very important win for us, we knew what
it meant before the game and I think you could tell on the pitch
how much it meant to everyone. I think it was one of the best
team performances to date.
WSS: Are you particularly happy with the win after
having gone behind early on?
KJ: Yeah definitely, it shows the character we have in our team.
Even when we went 1-0, at no point did I feel that we were not
going to get the job done, we have so much fight, resilience and
quality in our squad that I knew we could get the job done.
Going down early on is never easy, especially against a top quality team like Forest; we knew it
could happen and they would have chances so it was how we would deal with it ourselves and I
think we did that perfectly on Sunday.
WSS: How pleasing was it that two of the goals came from Jade Cross, a long serving
player at the club and perhaps one of your most underrated?
KJ: I’m so pleased for Jade, she deserves all the praise she is getting currently, she always works
so hard and you always know what you’re going to get from her. She epitomises the determination
and grit that we have as a team and I think she led from the front on Sunday.
WSS: Did you always feel safe after you went two goals ahead in the second half?
KJ: Definitely never felt safe, we know what Nottingham Forest can do, we knew we had to stay
focused throughout and last week we did not have a good second half at all so we needed to make
sure we were at the races as soon as the second half began because Forest have the quality to punish
mistakes. We had something to defend so defending was the priority, then Jade getting us a goal on
the counter attack just settled us down and finished the game off.
WSS: This Sunday it's a trip to Knowle in the County Cup but it's straight back into
league action in midweek against Stoke, is it mainly a case now of building on your
momentum?
KJ: Yeah, we have a good momentum building and the vibe around the squad is very good, we just
have to take it game by game and focus on the task in hand each week. We have to stay focused and
look after ourselves as every game is as important as the other.
WSS: The win against Forest means that things are now very close between the two
of you and Burnley, whilst Derby have been in good form. Can you see this title race
going down to the wire this season?
KJ: Yeah it’s definitely going to be a close one this season, a lot of teams are picking up very good
points. But we have to stay focused on ourselves and control what we can control.
WSS: You also have a League Cup semi final with Watford coming up and are still in
the County Cup, is that something of a welcome 'distraction' from a title challenge?
KJ: Yeah it’s great that we are still in these competitions, we take each game as it comes so I
wouldn’t say anything is a distraction as we focus on the game ahead.
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