Portsmouth Away Preview
It's the longest away trip of the season today for Newcastle United Women, fantastic effort from all of those who have made the trip down, however despite the contrasting starts to the season for both clubs I have a suspicion this is going to be as close a match as last season's FAWNL Cup Semi Final at St. James' Park was.
It'll be a surprise to nobody reading this that I rate Beth Lumsden very highly, I'd love to see her be given a long term contract like Elysia Boddy recently signed. I suspect Beth will play a large part in, hopefully, 3 points for the lasses as she comes up against her former team for the first time. I'm not convinced Portsmouth have been the same team since she joined NUW in January, I had intended to contact the club to see if I could get her thoughts on the match, anxiety, many re-writes of my Maddy Cusack post and a busy couple of weeks at work got the better of me but maybe, hopefully, for the home match.
Photo credit: Gavan McNally
Portsmouth's promotion campaign from the Southern Premier Division last season was very similar to our own journey out of the Northern Premier Division, 20 wins 1 draw and 1 loss with a goal difference of 76 compared to our 19 wins 2 draws and 1 loss with a goal difference of 68. Portsmouth scoring 125 goals in all competitions compared to our 113.
The Lumsden transfer came just over halfway into the season. Following the FAWNL Cup semi final all Portsmouth's remaining matches were in the league. Comparing the first 7 matches of the season, with Beth, to the last 7 matches of the season, after the semi-final, makes for interesting reading:
Portsmouth 4 - 2 Ipswich Town
Portsmouth 4 - 0 Rugby Borough
Milton Keynes Dons 0 - 0 Portsmouth
Portsmouth 3 - 0 Plymouth Argyle
Cheltenham Town 2 - 3 Portsmouth
If we just look at home league matches, 6 wins 0 losses, 30 goals scored and 1 conceded with Lumsden, 5 wins 0 losses 28 goals scored and 3 conceded after the transfer.
That last match of the season, the 10-1 defeat of London Bees is a bit of an anomaly. London Bees were long relegated by the final day with a record of 0 wins 3 draws 18 losses and -58 goal difference.
As Jamie Gallon mentioned in the Newcastle United Womens Fan Group on Facebook yesterday, the only other prior meeting between the two teams apart from the semi final was the FAWNL Reserve Plate Final in March 2023 where NUW Devs beat Portsmouth Devs 3-0. "Swagga like" Jas McQuade being the only NUW player to play in both the Reserve Plate Final, captaining the side and opening the scoring and the semi-final.
McQuade has improved season on season and has impressed in both this season's matches so far. I'd be surprised if she doesn't start at Westleigh Park this afternoon.
I expect we will play an unchanged starting 11 to last weekend. After a goalless start to the season I predict a very defensive Portsmouth set up playing for the draw or a 1-0 win to get out of the first month of the season with a point on the board and fearing being hit on the break if they try to push on. The pace of Kacie Elson and Katie Barker on the bench could prove very useful in the second half. I'm predicting 0-1, either a third goal in 3 games for Shania Hayles or a successful return to the South coast for Lumsden.
Players to watch in Jay Sadler's Portsmouth side: Emma Jones who joined Portsmouth from Lewes in 2021 contributed 18 goals and 23 assists last season, including the Portsmouth goal at St. James' Park on the way to earning player of the season and players' player of the season honours. Also Sophie Quirk who contributed 19 goals last season.
For those not travelling to Portsmouth, the match will be shown live on the Barclays Women's Championship YouTube page.
Howay the lasses.
Comments
Post a Comment