Wolves Women defying the odds in title race

Wolves have been working from a fraction of the budget given to league leaders Nottingham Forest, yet they have managed to push them all the way in the race for the National League Northern Premier Division title.

McNamara's side sit just two points off Forest, but the East Midlands club have a game in hand and Wolves have just three more games to play this season.

Unbeaten Forest are unlikely to throw away their advantage at this late stage, but McNamara insists his side have exceeded all expectations and finishing second is still a big success.

"If we can cement second then it's a phenomenal season," McNamara said.

"We're working on not even half of Forest's budget, nowhere near.

"The margins are so fine, you have to be winning every game to compete with them, but we shouldn't be!

"We shouldn't be competing, we have to understand where we're at and keep fighting with everything we have.

"The girls do that unbelievably well week on week.

"In a normal season, where there isn't a club that's throwing £1.5million at it like Newcastle or Forest, we'd be up there competing to win the league.

"But it's not a normal season and the margins are so fine in a league with so much quality.

"If someone said to me in August that after 19 games we'd have lost one, I'd have snapped their hand off.

"We have to understand this is still a success. It's unbelievable what these girls are doing, they are representing the club in an unbelievable manner.

"I'm not surprised by it any more, it's what they do and hopefully, eventually, we'll get what this club, these girls and my staff deserve, which is an opportunity in the Championship."

Wolves thrashed Black Country rivals Albion 5-0 at Molineux on Sunday, marking their 14th win from 19 league games.

The players and staff then spent time signing autographs and taking pictures with young fans and families.

McNamara, who has been with the club since 2018 and is now full-time in his role, says the players must enjoy these moments as they work on building the women's game.

He added: "The girls love playing here and I told them before the game that we won't know how long these memories will be created for.

"We don't know what's around the corner, this group deserves to be higher in the pyramid and I've fought with everything I have to keep this group together.

"But I don't know when that ends, so they have to enjoy and embrace stuff like this.

"What we see with the fans is the beauty of women's football, it's what brings it together.

"Three or four people here have asked me if I understand what we're doing for the community and how we're empowering young girls, which is amazing to hear.

"To have that impact is unbelievable and gives us a massive smile on our faces.

"The girls won't fully understand it until they get older and some of them are a little bit embarrassed about going over to do autographs, but it's brilliant to see.

"The disabled branch of the football club were here and have been saying they want to get to more women's games because they loved what they saw.

"The passion and hunger is there. 

"Good things happen to good people so hopefully, eventually, this group will get what they deserve."