Bolton Wanderers Women Head Coach Tom Cunniff has called on supporters to get down to Daisy Hill on Sunday as his side face Mancunian Unity, their closest rivals for the one automatic promotion spot.
Wanderers go into the game on the back of 14 successive wins in all competitions. Tom said support from the stands has driven the side’s best displays this season and he wants to see new faces as well as regulars.
“I’d ask anyone to come down and if you’ve never been to a game, come and try it and see what it’s like,” he said. “I’ve no doubt you’ll enjoy it and you’ll be impressed by the standard. Hopefully we can entertain you, show you what we’re about and you’ll get behind us.
“It does help the team. The atmosphere, and knowing you’ve got people who have your back and are encouraging you throughout the game, makes a difference. Every time we’ve had that this season, our best performances have come from it. So please come down and support the team.”
Unity bring a loud following of their own and Tom knows how much that helps them.
“They do have a following and it’s loud, and that helps them,” he said. “We’ve had that this year as well.”
Nine-goal cup win
Wanderers came into the week after a 9-0 League Cup win over Penrith AFC at the Eddie Davies Academy in Lostock. Sophie Coward and Ella Tweedle both scored hat-tricks, and Katie Holt, Poppy Wallis and Abbie Brown also got on the scoresheet.
Tom made a lot of changes and said everyone who came in took their chance.
“We rotated a lot, but every person who came in stepped up,” he said. “You can see what we’ve been working on in training consistently in most games, and the players who came in took their chances and did really well.
“We train at Lostock, so we were worried about not having that game feel, but I don’t think you could tell much difference. The first round of the League Cup is always quite difficult, but we stuck to our game plan and we were dominant from the very first minute.”
Coward’s patience rewarded
Coward scored her hat-trick on her first start for the club. Her season so far has been one of setbacks, with an injury in the last game of pre-season and then a return that came too soon.
“Sophie was someone we were so excited to sign in the summer,” said Tom. “She’s a really talented player. She had an amazing pre-season, then got injured in the very last game of it. She came back a couple of months ago but probably came back too soon, so we’ve been really cautious in bringing her back in.
“It’s hard to bring a player back at the moment, because you’re trying to build their minutes up but you’ve also got a squad that’s winning games. We always knew it would come. She’s had to be patient and she’ll need to be patient for a couple more weeks before she gets the minutes she wants, but she’ll get there and we’re excited for it.”
Honest conversations
With goals coming from all over the pitch, Tom said keeping a winning squad happy is his biggest challenge, and he deals with it by being completely honest with his players.
“You’re never going to keep everyone happy all the time, because everyone wants to start,” he said. “You’ve got to be completely fair with people in what you say to them. As a player I’d always rather be told, even if it was bad news, and have it explained. If you don’t explain why, people can get confused or a bit angry because they think it’s about one thing when it might not be about that at all.
“It’s not just telling someone they’re not in the team. It’s putting a plan together for how they can improve or challenge the player in that position, then giving them the opportunity when the time’s right. A lot of our selection comes from training: who’s doing the right things, who’s looking sharp and who’s right for that specific game.”
Toughest test so far
Wanderers drew with Unity in the league last season and then lost to them in the last minute of a cup tie a week later. Tom expects Sunday to be his side’s toughest test of the season by some distance.
“We’re going into it confident, but they always produce good teams,” he said. “They’re very physical, but they can play as well. They’ve got some really talented players, they’re always up there winning trophies and challenging for the title, and that’s credit to them.
“We won’t sit back. We’ll attack the game like we do every week. We’ll have a game plan for them like we do for every team, but we won’t change how we approach games because it’s working so well. Hopefully we can get the three points and build a bit more of a cushion.”
He believes his team has changed a lot since those two games last season.
“Our experience is the biggest difference,” he said. “Being able to manage a game, approach it differently because of the physical side and not be bullied in certain areas of the pitch. Mentally, too: keeping our heads at the right moments and not letting them drop if we concede. We’ve also added goals to the team. We created chances against them last time but didn’t take them, and we’re hoping that changes this weekend.
“We’ve got so much depth at the moment, which we’re lucky to have but have worked hard to get. We’ll approach it the same way whoever starts.”
Next up after Unity, Wanderers travel to Derby County in the FA Cup Second Round on Sunday 15 November (venue to be confirmed).
Get down to Daisy Hill
Bolton Wanderers Women v Mancunian Unity kicks off at 2pm on Sunday at the Ginge Power Stadium, Daisy Hill.