Great Weekend For Northeast Womens Football

I'll come back to the Wear-Tyne derby in a separate post, hopefully tomorrow time permitting, but as weekend's go this past Sunday couldn't have gone much better for teams throughout the region (and Yorkshire), plus associated teams / players outside of the Northeast. No injuries, first goals and teams reaching the first round proper of the Adobe Women's FA Cup.

The Northern Premier Division was in league action this weekend and featured the East Midlands derby between Derby County and league leaders Nottingham Forest in front of 1,225 fans at Mickleover Sports Club. Starting for Derby County was on loan NUW defender Daisy Burt, last season's NUW top scorer Bridget Galloway was on the bench for Forest. 

Early pressure from the visitors saw Forest go 0-1 up after 11 minutes only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Forest almost ahead again on 21 minutes but after going past the Derby keeper Mel Johnson hit the side netting.

In the defining moment of the first half, Burt converted a 40th minute penalty to score her first Derby goal and send the home side into the half time break 1-0 up against their top of the table rivals. Congratulations Daisy. In a post match interview, Daisy commented "Yeah, it was nerve wracking to be fair but I knew where I was placing it and I knew I was going to score so I just put it in the bottom left corner". The confidence is great to see. A player with a very bright future in the game.

It took until the 81st minute for Forest to find an equaliser. They went on to win the match due to a 90th minute penalty for handball. They remain top of the league and the only unbeaten side in Northern tier 3. Bridget came on in the 86th minute but didn't get on the scoresheet. 

Third and final qualifying round of the Adobe Women's FA Cup for the team's in tier's 4 and below. 

Durham Cestria, still without Anna Soulsby but at the time of writing her ACL GoFundMe is up to an amazing £8,610, only 28% to go, travelled North to take on Alnwick Town Juniors. A 70th minute Cestria goal courtesy of Grace Collinson, her second in two matches, was cancelled out 5 minutes later by Alnwick. 

1-1 at full time sent the tie to penalties. After both sides scored their opening two spot kicks, unsuccessful 3rd and 4th penalties for Alnwick compared to 4 out of 4 for Cestria see the Durham side into the first round proper against Norton & Stockton Ancients. 

Norton made their way to the first round proper and Cestria by beating Leeds Modernians 3-5 in 90 minutes, former NUW forward Bianca Owens scoring two of Norton's five.

Undefeated Middlesbrough travelled to tier 6 Darwen coming away with a 1-2 win to earn their place in the first round proper. 

Pretty much a full strength Boro side despite the lower league opposition. Laura Wareham in goal, Keira Skelton, Ellen Packham, Ellen Turnbull, Lauren Robson, Leanna Giles, Sharna Wilkinson and Millie Bell all featuring in the starting 11. 

After having her previous first Boro goal ruled out due to the match being abandoned, Sharna Wilkinson is now off and running for Boro. Not dissimilar to her wonder strike for NUW at St. James' Park the season before last, Wilkinson fired a beauty of a free kick into the top corner from a good 25 to 30 yards out. Congratulations Sharna, that was some hit. The goal can be seen on Boro Women's social media. 

A second goal right on the stroke of half time courtesy of Ellen Packham. First to react to a rebound from the Darwen keeper tipping a ball onto the post, Packham found the top corner of the net.

Boro play another tier 6 team, Wythenshawe, in the first round proper.

Staying in tier 6, Mancunian Unity, the little team that could, produced perhaps one of if not the upset of the round beating tier 4 Leeds United 3-1. A return to the full FA Cup for Unity, huge congratulations to everyone involved at the club, a wonderful group of people who really are going places. I wish you all every success.

Elsewhere, York City with a 5-2 win over Fleetwood Town Wrens, Huddersfield Town with a home walkover against Barnsley and renowned Doncaster Rovers Belles with a 4-0 win over Hull United. 

Great to see so many clubs from the wider Northeast having success. The region has always been a breeding ground for footballing talent, notably Wallsend Boys Club / NUFC for the mens' game and Sunderland for the women's. Hopefully, as NUW manager Becky Langley said before the Wear-Tyne derby, it won't be long until players don't have to leave the Northeast to play for England.