The post-Becky Langley era for Newcastle United’s women began on Sunday with a visit to the Jobserve Community Stadium in Colchester to take on newly promoted side Ipswich Town.
Given the distance, only the most dedicated fans traveled to East Anglia to be part of the 1,396 crowd.
A large part of the team had been on international duty for the past two weeks.
Aoife Mannion and Emily Murphy were both part of the Ireland squad that achieved promotion in the UEFA Nations League after their play-off against Belgium. Jas McQuade and Charlotte Wardlaw played for Scotland U23s in matches against Sweden and Italy. Femke Liefting played for the Netherlands Under-21 and drew 2-2 against Italy. Freya Gregory was part of the Scotland senior squad that faced Morocco and Switzerland in successive friendlies, and Lois Joel was called up by Wales but did not play in either match.
Sela Player of the Month for October, Oona Sevenius, was named in the Finnish senior team ahead of their UEFA Women’s Nations League play-off double header against Denmark, but only played the last 30 minutes of their second leg defeat.
Oona Sevenius arrives (thanks to Jamie Gallon for the photo)
In her first game as interim manager, Claire Ditchburn made four changes from United’s previous league match with Bristol City. Charlotte Wardlaw came in at right-back for Lia Cataldo, while Elyssia Boddy, Freya Gregory and Shania Hayles started in place of Morgan Gautrat, Lois Joel and Emily Murphy.
Match report
The match started as an even affair with both teams sharing possession, but came alive when a clever ball over the top from Ipswich’s Paige Peake found Sophie Peskett on the right. Her ball in the center found Aoife Mannion, but Rianna Dean’s tackle almost put Femke Liefting into the opponent’s goal.
A minute later, Newcastle had their first chance when Molly Pike played Oona Sevenius in from the right. When the Finnish international cut onto her left foot, her strike was deflected just wide. Maddy Earl did very well on the left wing for the home side five minutes later as she beat her marker with a neat turn, but her cutback into a crowded area could only find a Newcastle player.
The visiting team’s breaks started to cause problems. Ipswich goalkeeper Natalia Negri’s first save was quite comfortable to deny Freya Gregory in the 25th minute. That was followed shortly afterwards by Shania Hayles’ shot that went wide. From that corner, Aoife Mannion headed just over.
Sevenius continued to pose United’s biggest threat. After being set up by Hayles, she made a powerful effort towards goal from a tight angle. But Negri got a hand in the attack before having to backpedal to push the ball off the line.
A few minutes later Jordan Nobbs ran forward and found Gregory on her left who was denied by a good save from Negri, but five minutes before half-time Newcastle’s pressure paid off and they took the lead.
After Ipswich lost the ball in midfield, Hayles broke towards the penalty area. Her clever ball to the left found Nobbs in space. Hayles continued her run to meet the ball in the middle and scored via the post.
The second half saw a dominant performance from Newcastle. Five minutes after the restart they made it 2-0. Molly Pike did well in the build-up to exchange passes with Jordan Nobbs before picking out Gregory at the back post. The winger then unselfishly set up Hayles to tap into the net from close range.
But within three minutes Ipswich pulled one back. Paige Peake’s free-kick was parried by Femke Liefting and Kyra Robertson was on hand to lob the rebound past a last-ditch effort from Mannion on the line.
However, Newcastle soon restored their two-goal margin. Gregory did well to beat substitute Grace Neville before curling home a superb cross. Sevenius instructed Molly Pike to shoot at the ball via the back post.
Town were still looking to move forward as the match entered the closing stages and Rianna Dean had a good chance after being found on the edge of the penalty area by Natasha Thomas. She defeated Deanna Cooper before being denied by a good save.
As the match entered the closing minutes, Beth Lumsden created a chance for Stokes, who shot over. Before Emily Murphy looked home a header from another Lumsden cross.
In stoppage time, Jemma Purfield came on for her long-awaited debut, having missed the start of the season due to injury.
Thanks to Jamie Gallon for the photo
Final score: Ipswich Town Ladies 1 Newcastle United Ladies 4
Newcastle United: Femke Liefting, Charlotte Wardlaw, Aoife Mannion, Deanna Cooper, Demi Stokes (c) (Jemma Purfield 90+2), Jordan Nobbs, Elysia Boddy (Emily Murphy 63), Molly Pike (Jasmine McQuade 90+2), Oona Sevenius, Shania Hayles (Emma Kelly 82), Freya Gregory (Beth Lumsden 82).
Subs not used: Claudia Moan, Małgorzata Grec, Lia Cataldo
Ipswich town: Natalia Negri, Leah Mitchell (Grace Neville, 59), Maria Boswell (c), Paige Peake, Summer Hughes (Ruby Seaby, 84), Kyra Robertson (Ruby Doe, 59), Charlotte Fleming (Megan Wearing, 70), Sophie Peskett, Jenna Dear, Maddy Earl (Natasha Thomas, 59), Rianna Dean.
Subs not used: Laura Hartley, Shauna Guyatt, Kaci-Jai Bonwick.
Where is Newcastle United Women
Newcastle extended their current unbeaten run to four games in all competitions. The win over Ipswich sees them rise to sixth in the table, having played seven of their 22 league games.
What’s coming
More than 10,000 tickets have now been sold for the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland. The Lasses return to St. James’ Park on Sunday, November 16 to take on the Black Cats as they look to make it back-to-back wins against local rivals on home turf.
The Lasses are participating in the Fan Choice and Alcohol in the Bowl project, which allows fans to drink alcohol while watching the game.
Tickets are on general sale now and cost just £8.50 for adults and £3 for juniors.
Before that they visit another local rival in Durham where they play at Maiden Castle next Sunday.
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