Newcastle United Women began their season with a 2:0 victory over Wolverhampton at home on Saturday. The result puts them third in the table on three points after one game, while Wolves sit eleventh with none. To be fair, the scoreline doesn't tell the whole story of how Newcastle controlled the tempo from the start.
The breakthrough came in the eighth minute when B. Lumsden buried a chance to put the hosts ahead. She'd already picked up a yellow card by the seventeenth minute, suggesting she was involved in the thick of things. And here's the thing — when you're pressing from the opening whistle, those bookings often follow.
Wolves' problems compounded five minutes later when G. Marshall turned the ball into her own net. The visitors looked to be trying to recover, but Newcastle held their nerve. By then, the momentum was firmly with the home side, and Wolves struggled to string anything together.
Newcastle made three changes in quick succession around the fifty-eighth minute, bringing on B. Roberts, M. Filis and M. Lawley. They added more throughout the second half — C. Greengrass, K. McGovern, H. Antonsdottir, Y. Daniels and finally M. Lambert in stoppage time. The manager needed the points badly to set the right tone.
Looking at the recent form, Newcastle had mixed results going into this fixture, including a 0:1 defeat to Durham in May. Wolves showed they could score — beating Stoke City 2:0 back in November — but couldn't find that rhythm today. The away end never stopped, but there wasn't much to cheer.
The result means Newcastle can raise the tempo when they need to, while Wolves will be looking for answers. Three points from the opening round is a start, and you'd expect them to want more from the next fixture.
