Ahead of Wolves Women’s crucial FA WNL Tier 3 Promotion Play-Off, where they take on Plymouth Argyle, Dan McNamara reflects on the pride he has in his group and how much promotion will mean.
The Old Gold head to Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium where they take on their Southern Division counterparts, looking to secure professional league status for the first time in the club’s history.
McNamara has reinforced the importance of the one-off game and how victory on Monday would be life-changing for his players.
On the play-off final excitement
“The girls have been fantastic this season, so we're heading into into Monday, full of confidence. I am really fortunate to have such a fantastic group that have really pulled together and hopefully on Monday, we can finally achieve that ultimate dream.
“I think the pressure is a little bit off this time round because of how well they've done, with the adversity we came through last summer, no one expected us to be hit where we are now.
“I'm excited. The excitement is building. I'm trying to control my emotions and try and treat it as another football game. If I'm losing my mind, then I'm pretty sure the players will, so we're all calm, and I'm really looking forward to it.”
On last time being in the play-off
“If we look back when we played Southampton, when you win a league, and then have to go into a playoff, there's that pressure of being league champions.
“It was our first time there, and the pressure was building, and all those things added up to quite an enormous occasion for the girls. Five years on, we're in a far better place. It really hurt me last time out trying to watch it 10 minutes behind in the Falkland Islands, so hopefully this one can be a more positive experience.
“I think the experiences of that game alone will help the girls, but also, if you look at the group now, we've got Forest girls who competed in a playoff against Watford a couple of years ago, so they've had all those experiences.
“We know what's at stake, but we head into it full of confidence. I've never seen the girls so relaxed heading into something so big. They've trained well this week, it's been really fiery. It's been an outstanding training week, so hopefully we can use all those experiences. We've played big games this season, live on TNT with the FA Cup games, so we'll be looking to draw on all those and take them into Monday.”
On playing Plymouth in pre-season
“We can't look at that game. In fact, we haven't looked at that game. I know Marie well, and we fought against each other a lot over the last few seasons.
“I know the group she put together at Stoke was phenomenal, and probably close to being top of that northern division, so we know what kind of team she likes to put together.
“Last time we went down there, I think at least half of the 11 weren't there, but we also had players missing, and it was early on in preseason, so it'll be a totally different game. But look, they're a young group, they're hungry, they want to achieve something special themselves, and there's some top players in there. There's bags of quality within that group, so we really need to be at it come Monday.”
On when he started to believe
“The Loughborough one really sticks out. We were two all in 90 plus two and it showed the quality of the squad. Racheal Quigley came up with a moment of brilliance to set up Amber, and you put Amber in front of a goal, and Amber does what Amber does.
“Winning that three two was a big turning point, but we've had some luck and also been unlucky on certain occasions and I don't want to go on too much about that, that certain occasion that I feel has ended up costing us a league title, but it is what it is.
“It swings in roundabouts, and we've got to use every bit of that luck, that determination, everything we've seen all season.”
On what promotion would mean
“I've said to the players, look, this is it's life changing. It is something that we've worked for so long and individually, it's life changing for them. I'm pretty sure some of them throughout the season, when I'm dragging them in here at seven o'clock on a Thursday night in November, probably can think of better things to be doing after a full day's work.
“We've got them in this afternoon, and they'll be training in the sun, and that could be the normality for them, rather than teaching, working in hospitals and all the other great careers that they've got as individuals, so it really is life changing for the players and the staff.
“But as I said, we've got to just prepare the best we can and and hopefully that driver of that life changing moment for them can can get us over the line.”
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— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) April 28, 2026
Tickets and subsidised travel for Monday's Promotion Play-Off are now on sale 👉 https://t.co/CleE0hUjM3 pic.twitter.com/BLaCTZdIuw
On what promotion can bring
“Promotion will obviously bring the next level of investment, the next level of logistically, what we need to compete.
“The group is surrounded by people who really love the club, whether it's the staff that are here now or whether it's the ones that were with me eight years ago, we've always prided ourselves on the environment that we create here at Wolves, and people fall in love with the club really quickly.
“We’ll be using all that on Monday. The adversity last year, the heartache from two weeks ago, where I felt we were far below what you expect of a Wolves Women team against Rugby in a County Cup final. We'll draw on some of that to try and not feel that pain again.”
On importance of the Old Gold fans
“The fans are going to be key, I'm preparing the players for working hard for 90 minutes, and I hope the fans are putting their song list together for 90 minutes, because they really can help us on Monday.
“If you look at the location of it, it probably does suit Wolves fans more. I think it's a long old journey from Plymouth, but I'm sure they'll still have quite a following, but I remember hearing about Stockport last time out, and the streets were taken over by Wolves fans, and hopefully that's the same in Burton, because we definitely going to need them in some of the tougher moments on Monday.”
Tickets for the play-off are now on sale here at the advance prices of £10 for adults and £5 concessions.
By Malaika Khan
