Wolves Women’s Jade Cross is stepping into the new season on the verge of a huge personal landmark – but the prolific striker is refusing to think about it, writes TONY LEIGHTON.
Wolverhampton born and bred Cross needs just one goal to reach the 100 mark for her home town club after hitting her previous 99 in just 135 appearances.
With such a high ratio of goals to games, it shouldn’t take long for that magic moment to arrive for the 24-year-old striker.
It could indeed arrive on Sunday, when Wolves open their National League Division 1 Midlands campaign with a home game against Lincoln City.
But Cross insists: “I’m not even thinking about getting to a hundred goals. I’m going into the new season treating it as a clean slate and starting from zero.
“I just want to get off the mark as quickly as I can and hopefully carry on from where I left off last season in terms of my goalscoring.”
Where Cross left off last season was with two goals against West Bromwich Albion, the last game brace taking her to a total of 32 for the campaign.
Twenty-nine of those strikes came in Division 1 Midlands outings, earning her the division’s cherished Golden Boot award.
“It was great to get the Golden Boot and I’ll cherish the award,” says Cross, whose twin sister Emma is a Wolves team mate.
“It was the most goals I’ve ever scored in a season and that was very pleasing, but the downside was that we missed out on promotion.
“It was a major disappointment, but that will drive us on this season and our absolute focus will be on getting up to the next division.”
Another big goal haul from Cross would certainly help her team achieve the promotion they crave, and goals galore will be the striker’s aim.
But as she looks ahead to the new campaign she notes: “It doesn’t matter where the goals come from as long as we’re scoring plenty and winning matches.
“I believe we’ve got a stronger team than last season after some really good signings and so competition for places will be a lot stronger too.
“So although I’ll obviously be out to get as many goals as I can, I’ll be more than happy for the scoring to be shared out if it means we end up with promotion.”
Wolves are set to entertain Lincoln at Castlecroft’s CKW Stadium on Sunday afternoon (2pm).
