Fifth in the table and six points adrift of Birmingham City in the second automatic promotion berth, Newcastle United Women headed into Sunday’s must win home game to bottom placed side Ipswich Town,
Manager Tanya Oxtoby made three changes to the side which lost in the capital last weekend with goal scorer Oona Sevenius perhaps being the most surprising omission, given her strong performance at the Valley.
There were 1,988 in attendance at Gateshead International Stadium for what should have been a straightforward three points.
Match Report
Newcastle started on the front foot with some of their finest attacking football of the season during the opening 30 minutes. Having enjoyed a lot of the ball they could have gone ahead six minutes in, when Freya Gregory delivered a deep cross to Beth Lumsden whose header looped over.
Relentless attacking from the Lasses paid off two minutes later, when Lumsden received the ball on the right and found a yard of space before sending a looping effort over Natalia Negri and into the far side of the net.
Lumsden, who was making her 50th appearance in a Black and White shirt since signing two years ago, exchanged passes with Jordan Nobbs for a smart one-two before advancing and lobbing the Ipswich goalie with a shot that was meant as a cross.
The Lasses continued to push for a second with Emily Murphy just unable to test Negri from Aoife Mannion’s looping cross on 30 minutes. A minute later Negri was also called into action again when Jordan Nobbs cut the ball back from the byline for Murphy, but the Town goalie kicked the low shot off the line with her left foot. Soon after, Molly Pike saw her lofted delivery punched away straight to Gregory by Negri. However, the left winger could only slice over from inside the area.
But all that hard work was soon undone. After a series of unfortunate stoppages with two Ipswich players having to depart the game through injury, it disrupted the flow. Ipswich seemed to draw inspiration from that and quickly broke up the pitch. Sophie Peskett was released upfield by Lucy O’Brien and after dancing around several players, she cut inside Kaitlyn Torpey, who was making her home debut at left back, before showing composure to almost walk it into the bottom far corner for Town’s first shot on goal.
With 10 minutes added on for the visitors’ injuries, United could have been behind at the break. When Peskett’s first-time cross was knocked back across goal by Natasha Thomas to Leah Mitchell, but she couldn’t find the required contact from a few yards out.
The second half saw a flat performance from both sides with the crowd getting increasingly frustrated and quiet as the game wore on. Newcastle did dominate possession but were unable to break down some resolute defending from the away side and very few chances were created at all, in what was stark contrast to the beginning of the contest.
A triple substitution from Tanya Oxtoby (pictured below) saw Sevenius, Shania Hayles and Demi Stokes come on in place of Gregory, Murphy and Torpey, but with little improvement. Emilia Larsson then entered the action with 15 minutes to go for her first home appearance and she did try and spark something going forward. However, the Swedish striker lacked any meaningful service to her.
The closest Newcastle came to a winner was from Demi Stokes latching onto a defensive header before volleying it straight into Negri’s hands. Then with seven minutes remaining, Stokes fed Nobbs on the edge of the area but she snatched at the shot off balance and the effort sailed over the bar.
Neither Negri nor Tamminen had a save of note to make in the second half. However, United’s number one did earn her side a point when the Tractor Girls carved open the Lasses back four late on.
Substitute Ava Baker brought the ball forward and played it to Kit Graham, who spotted the run in behind of Rianna Dean, but she was denied by Tamminen who raced off her line to smother the effort and help her side escape with a draw.
Subs not used: Claudia Moan, Małgorzata Grec, Ashanti Akpan, Jorja Fox
Ipswich Town: Natalia Negri, Maria Boswell (Summer Hughes 22), Paige Peake, Megan Wearing, Bethan Roe, Charlotte Fleming (Lucy Ashworth-Clifford 46’), Leah Mitchell, Colette Cavanagh, Sophie Peskett (Ava Baker 83’), Lucy O’Brien (Kit Graham 72’), Natasha Thomas (Rianna Dean 72’).
Subs not used: Laura Hartley, Kenzie Weir.
Where that leaves NUFC
Newcastle slipped a further place to sixth now, following Southampton’s win over Crystal Palace. Combined with their lacklustre display over Ipswich, their promotion hopes took a massive knock,
They do have a game in hand on most of the sides above them with nine games remaining, five of those are at home.
They are now eight points behind Birmingham City who occupy the second and final automatic promotion berth. The battle for third spot and and a promotion play-off game with the WSL 1’s bottom placed side, currently Liverpool, increases. There are now three sides above Newcastle for that place, with Bristol City, Crystal Palace and Southampton having moved ahead in recent weeks.
However, whichever of those sides takes part in that play-off game is irrelevant, as it is highly unlikely they will overcome a WSL 1 team.
What’s coming up
Newcastle make the long trip down to the South Coast to take on Southampton next Sunday. Before returning home to play the Saints local rivals Portsmouth the following week.
