Newcastle United Women 3-1 Sunderland Women: Tyne-Wear derby woe in front of 18,972 at St James' Park
Newcastle United Women 3-1 Sunderland Women: Keira Barry scored and Eleanor Dale had a penalty saved as Mel Reay’s side were beaten at St James’ Park.
Sunderland Women made it eight games without a win as they were beaten 3-1 by rivals Newcastle United Women at St James’ Park on Sunday.
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.
Sunderland were a point behind their rivals heading into the game, sitting eighth in the Women’s Super League 2 table. The defeat sees them drop to 10th.
Another big derby crowd
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. The previous record had been set in the reverse fixture at the Stadium of Light with a crowd of 15,387 last season.
This time around at St James’ Park, a crowd of 18,972 gathered from the WSL 2 match.
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Whirlwind 10 minutes decides Sunderland’s derby fate
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 well to get down low and save Eleanor Dale’s effort from 12 yards.
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.