Wow, wow, wow and wow. Did I really just witness that? The 29th match unbeaten, a complete calendar year now unbeaten and top of the tree at Christmas. Becky’s Langley’s bandwagon keeps on a-rolling and then some!
Almost impossible to put into meaningful words what happened in Wor Lasses last game of 2023 and even more so what’s gone before. Those that have gone before having been chronicled for history, those that are yet to come will be recorded as appropriate.
But the present? Well, there are two things! The last time NUFC Women conceded three goals in a game they lost. That was, if you read these blogs, on the 14th of December 2022. On Sunday they conceded three goals at home in the League.
Normally a recipe for disaster BUT not when you reply with eleven, yes ELEVEN, to take all three points, open a five-point gap at the top of the table and continue the relentless march to glory.
These Ladies are quite something else. They make me, and I’m not alone in this, so proud. Each and everyone of them clearly is proud to wear the black and white and be part of the emerging NUFC journey.
They all clearly care about each other, those around them and of course the Club to which they are all an absolute credit too and represent with such distinction, style, ability and panache.
It is an inspirational joy to watch their progress. The sky is the limit for this set of players and they will get, I’m sure everything they deserve and so much more. Each passing week they seem to get stronger, fitter and add quality and technique to their armoury.
Long may it last and do you know what? I think it just might. There were 965 in attendance on a Christmas Sunday shopping day. Those inside Kingston Park made the right decision as the Christmas present United served up was a festive feast of goals.
AFC Fylde came to the North East hoping to avoid a defeat that would see them at the opposite end of the table to Newcastle. There was though, especially after last week’s Adobe FA Women’s Cup win and subsequent Fourth Round, a sense of destiny.
Often in football you get a result that isn’t supposed to happen and no-one saw coming but a Fylde win or even a draw was one you really couldn’t see coming. But then eleven home goals was also probably not something you could have seen coming either.
One could probably have imagined Jack Garside telling his players that they could expect a fast start from United but if they could keep them quiet for 15 – 20 minutes at the start then they could progress from there. I wonder what Plan B was?
The Lady Mags simply set off at breakneck speed and continued it for 90 minutes as repeatedly they sped through, battered and opened up the Fylde defence and netted goal after goal after goal.
That said let’s give credit to the visitors. They looked a beaten side almost from the off but they kept going and indeed can take heart that they scored three quality goals against the best defence in the division. That in itself was some effort.
Defensively and in midfield though may well be where Garside does most of his post-game analysis with his players. They simply could not cope with United’s superior power and fitness and were unable to stem the tide smashing against them.
Elysia Boddy had failed a fitness test and there were a few who felt that she may well be missed. A player of her quality will always be missed but step forward Jas ‘I Only Do Hat-Tricks’ McQuade.
A first start in the Adobe FA Women’s Cup saw McQuade net a hat-trick. Against Fylde it was her first League start of the season and within 25 minutes she’d bagged her second triple of the season.
United’s top scorer #BridgeyGoal also netted a hat-trick, Katie Barker grabbed two the others coming from Georgia Gibson, Charlotte Potts and an own goal by Iszy Binks. Tyler Dodds out on the right wing had five assists in the game and a foot in another of the goals.
The scoring sequence went like this.
6 minutes 1 – 0 Tyler Dodds to the right byline, right foot cross, Bridget Galloway 6-yards looping header over Liz Craven.
8 minutes 2 – 0 Dodds does well to keep ball in play on byline. Low left foot cross met first time by Jas McQuade’s left foot and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
13 minutes 3 – 0 McQuade driving forward from 30 yards slides a great ball into Georgia Gibson who takes it in her stride and drives a low 14-yard right foot effort into the far corner.
23 minutes 4 – 0 Katie Barker excellent 1-2 with Gibson then a brilliant turn and magical footwork, lay-off to McQuade who finishes with a 10-yard side foot chip.
25 minutes 5 – 0 Emma Kelly floats a free kick to the back post. Dodds heads into danger area, Fylde don’t clear and McQuade is first to the loose ball and finishes neatly from just outside the six-yard box.
28 minutes 5 – 1 Lilly Murray on left turns inside Amber-Keegan Stobbs and then curls a brilliant finish from the side of the 18-yard box giving Grace Donnelly no chance of saving.
34 minutes 6 – 1 Dodds right wing corner, Charlotte Potts times her run well looses her marker and a downward header from seven yards beats Craven.
43 minutes 6 – 2 Great ball inside the United defence by Ginny Lackey to Murray who sprints clear and pulls back from byline to find Alex Taylor arriving late to guide it home from six yards out.
57 minutes 7 – 2 McQuade little pass to Gibson edge of box, Gibson dinks the ball over the defence, Galloway allows it to bounce and then rifles into the top corner from 16 yards.
61 minutes 8 – 2 Magnificent run from midfield from Stobbs past four defenders into box pulls the ball across six-yard box, Barker with a great first touch then second is an emphatic left foot finish.
65 minutes 9 – 2 Kelly neat ball to Barker on left, Barker cuts inside the box and curls a right foot finish around Craven into the far corner.
67 minutes 9 – 3 United fail to clear a long ball from the kick off it fails to Lackey who lashes an excellent left foot low drive from just inside the box past Donnelly.
88 minutes 10 – 3 Anna Soulsby brilliant turn and run from her own half to 20 yards from goal, wide right to Dodds, great cross and Galloway on the end to head home from six yards out.
89 minutes 11 – 3 Dodds reverse pass frees Soulsby on the right, cross looks destined for Galloway but Iszy Binks trying to clear heads it into her own goal over Craven.
Fylde even managed to have Codie Thomas sent off on 75 minutes for a foul on Kacie Elson that earned her a second yellow card and a subsequent red. Her first yellow coming in the first half when she needlessly kicked the ball away when United were awarded a free kick.
In truth United could have had more. Liz Craven in the Fylde goal made two or three really good saves and Newcastle also had other shots that reigned in that were either too high or too wide. But I’m guessing they weren’t going to complain!
So, a well-deserved rest and Christmas break for The Lady Mags. They return to Kingston Park on Sunday 7th January 2024 when Halifax Town Women arrive to see if they can stop the run.
I think it might be a difficult task as this momentum is going faster than a runaway train!
