Ross Wilson watches on as major Newcastle United appointment looms after win v Sunderland Women
Newcastle United Women 3-1 Sunderland Women: Deanna Cooper, Emily Murphy helped Newcastle to a Tyne-Wear derby win in front of a 18,972 crowd at St James’ Park.
Newcastle United Women secured a third successive league win over Sunderland Women with a 3-1 victory at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon.
A goal from Deanna Cooper and a brace from substitute Emily Murphy helped The Lady Magpies climb up to fourth in the table. Keira Barry scored for Sunderland while Eleanor Dale saw a penalty saved at 0-0.
Newcastle United Women went into the game sitting one place and one point ahead of their Tyne-Wear rivals eight games into the Women’s Super League 2 season. Both sides had won just two of their opening eight matches, sitting seventh and eighth prior to kick-off.
The Lady Magpies recently parted ways with long-term head coach Becky Langley, with interim manager Claire Ditchburn taking charge of the derby match.
This fixture attracted a league record 38,502 crowd at St James’ Park last season as Newcastle won 1-0 thanks to a Shania Hayles strike.
Less than a fortnight after hosting Champions League football, St James’ Park returned as the backdrop for some WSL 2 action with a crowd of 18,972 gathered for the match. It was the 10th time The Lady Magpies had played a match at St James’ Park since officially becoming part of the club in 2022.
After a goalless first half, Sunderland were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead after the ball bounced up and hit Newcastle’s Aoife Mannion on the arm. Referee Phoebe Cross pointed straight to the penalty spot but Anna Tamminen reacted brilliantly to get down low and save Eleanor Dale’s effort from 12-yards.
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Despite the blow, Sunderland continued to push for the opening goal and put the home side under pressure. But it was Newcastle who opened the scoring against the run of play as Deanna Cooper bundled the ball home from Jordan Nobbs’ corner.
The Lady Magpies then grabbed a second from another corner moments later as substitute Emily Murphy doubled their lead.
Sunderland then went the other end and scored from a corner themselves as Keira Barry headed in from close range to make it three goals in five minutes and reduce the deficit to 2-1.
But 10 minutes later, Newcastle restored their two-goal advantage with Murphy finding the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.
The Lady Magpies were able to see out the 3-1 win as interim manager Ditchburn stretched her unbeaten start to three matches. But it’s now eight without a win for Sunderland in all competitions.
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‘Hugely important’ win for Newcastle United Women
Sunderland’s manager Mel Reay declined to attend her post-match press conference at St James’ Park following the derby defeat.
Following the match, Newcastle interim manager Ditchburn said in her press conference: “It was hugely important, we definitely didn't shy away from that in the build up to the game, the girls faced the challenge, they embraced the challenge and I think you saw that as well out on the pitch today.
“This is obviously the big derby. It's the derby that everybody's aware of.
“It's the derby that as soon as you come to Newcastle everybody tells you this is the one you need to win so you're well aware of what it means to everybody and so yeah, it's the big one.
“It's a relief [to continue 100% winning record at St James’ Parkto be honest. I was very aware of that in the run-up so it's really good and hopefully we'll continue to do so when we play here again in the future.”
Newcastle looking to appoint new manager
Newcastle sporting director Ross Wilson was in attendance as Ditchburn continued her unbeaten start to make it seven points out of a possible nine in interim charge.
On the prospect of a permanent appointment, Ditchburn said: “The message from the club was just to bring a bit of stability but also to continue to keep us moving forward and so that is hopefully what we've been focusing on, what we've been trying to do and that's what I'll continue to do until I'm told otherwise.”