Newcastle United Women aiming to use Wolves and Portsmouth experiences to inspire cup final clash

Newcastle United Women will face Hashtag United in the final of the FA Women’s National League Cup final at Kenilworth Road on Saturday afternoon. Becky Langley’s side are just 90 minutes away from lifting silverware and what could be the first part of a potential league and cup double this season.

Newcastle secured their passage to the final with a 2-1 win over Portsmouth at St James’ Park in the last round to set up the tie against Hashtag United. That match marked yet another landmark occasion for the women’s team at St James’ Park in-front of a crowd of 22,307 spectators.

That game marked the fifth time they had played at St James’ Park and Su Cumming, head of women’s football at Newcastle United, believes those experiences of playing in-front of big crowds will help them at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.

Speaking to the Gazette, Cumming said: “They do a lot of work around dealing with pressure and they talk about that a lot and they do a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure that they are prepared. The opportunity to play at Kingston Park in front of two or three thousand people every week cannot do them any harm when they turn up at Kenilworth Road.

“Obviously it is an occasion and there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance that goes with that. They all want it. They’ve got good experience and a lot of opportunities to showcase that and hopefully we will be good.”

Newcastle United go into the game after sealing a dramatic comeback win over Wolves on their last outing. The Magpies went into the break 2-0 down, but rallied in the second period before an 89th minute strike from Katie Barker secured all three points and put them in pole position to secure back-to-back promotions. 

The nature of that win - and the implications it has on their hunt for promotion - should inspire the Magpies and Cumming is hopeful that the team can use that experience of being behind in a match, one they have not had too often in recent times, to help them overcome adversity this weekend if required: “I think it will absolutely make a difference. It was an incredible game, a game of two halves. The way they played in the second half of that game, their first half wasn’t awful by any means, it's just that Wolves were good, but the way they changed the way they were going to focus on that game in the second half, I think the confidence from that is going to be great.

“I’ve been watching them in training and they’ve been very together and it’s just wonderful to see. Never having a challenge to come from behind like that has just shown the strength that they’ve got and the ability that they now have and I’m hoping they use that and have it in their locker if that’s what happens on Saturday.

“We don’t know, it’s a game of football and anything can happen. But they’re strong and that game [v Wolves] will do them good.”