Sunderland Ladies seal North East bragging rights with 3-2 win over Newcastle United Women at Stadium of Light

The lasses were forced to come from behind after Bethany Gardner gave Newcastle the lead with a strike from distance with just 11 minutes on the clock.

The early setback did not deter the hosts, however and only an inspired series of saves from Newcastle goalkeeper, Grace Donnelly prevented an immediate equalizer from the Wearsiders’.

First, she denied Mollie Lambert after a surging run from the midfielder, before keeping out two efforts from the in-form Bridget Galloway in the space of a few minutes.

Just a minute later, Sunderland levelled with a fine effort from Jessica Brown who picked up the ball outside the penalty area and fired the ball home from over 20 yards out.

Spurred on by the goal, they continued to dominate the first half, but once again Donnelly was equal to Sunderland’s efforts as she prevented Brown from adding a second from the edge of the penalty area.

The home side finally took the lead in first half stoppage time as Jessica Brown doubled her tally for the afternoon with an instinctive finish.

The second half continued in a similar fashion with Sunderland pressing for a third goal, with Newcastle looking to pose a threat on the counter attack.

Bridget Galloway came close after Katie Barker did well to find her deep inside the Newcastle area. Charlotte Potts was also unlucky to see her free-kick saved by Donnelly on 66 minutes.

Sunderland were made to pay for not adding to their total when Imogen Longcake lobbed Cowling to level the scoring with only 20 minutes remaining.

Sunderland were not in the mood to lie down though and Galloway blasted the ball into the corner from inside the penalty area on 75 minutes to ensure that the lasses booked their place in the next round.

Sunderland: Cowling, Mullen, Potts, Lambert, Galloway, Gibson,(Herron) Brown, Barker,(Cottam) Beer, McCatty, Tarrugia.

Subs Not Used-Moan, Griffiths, Stewart

Newcastle: Donnelly, Packham, Lock, Mark, Hennessey, Longcake, Gray, Tait (Gilchrist), Foster (Maxwell), Olley, Gardner (McKenzie)