The Newcastle United Women’s team had made a perfect start to the season with four league wins, scoring 11 goals and conceding only one as they look to win the title and get promotion to the Super League.
The latest challenge was against Durham, who have proved a thorn in United’s side in recent times.
Pre-match other news
Beth Lumsden and Martha Thomas, along with Southampton’s Megan Collett and Sunderland’s Katy Watson have been shortlisted for September’s Player of the Month award.
Meanwhile, Casi Gregson becomes the third player in the last couple of weeks to be offered a first professional contract. The 18-year-old joined the Lasses in February from Gwalia United (Cardiff City) and has been playing and training with the Under-21s since her arrival. Casi joined first team training throughout the summer, and made her senior debut on Wednesday night in the Subway Players’ Cup against Aston Villa. The Welsh Under-19 international also received her first national senior call-up on Tuesday.
“This is such a big club; everybody knows Newcastle. The style of football, the energy and determination from everyone here are unreal.” Casi said.
Manager, Tanya Oxtoby, reverted to a more familiar side for the short trip to Maiden Castle, with nine changes from Wednesday’s game against Aston Villa. Mollie Lambert made her first appearance against her former side.
Match Report
For the first time in five attempts Goliath finally took down David as Newcastle United, currently sitting pretty at the top of the WSL2 table, saw off a pitiful Durham at Maiden Castle.
Since being promoted to the women’s second tier, Durham have made beating Newcastle a priority, treating it like their cup final. But Sunday saw the result finally head in the right direction.
The visitors were instantly on the attack with Beth Lumsden a threat down the wing. A low cross was sent in to top scorer Martha Thomas, but she narrowly failed to connect on the pass and the ball trickled past the post.
Newcastle didn’t particularly play well, but then they didn’t have to. Durham were thrashed by second bottom Sheffield United last weekend to leave them marooned at the bottom of the table.
The game didn’t improve as a spectacle with too many stoppages preventing any form of flow. Newcastle did try playing their own game though, sticking to their strengths and using pace on the counter-attack.
They went closest when a smart flick from Jordan Nobbs took her past Dee Bradley in the Durham midfield and saw her set Lumsden away again. The flying winger was inside Lauren Briggs and into the box quick as a flash, before firing past Cat Sheppard in the home goal, but was denied by the crossbar.
Lumsden’s pace was pulling Durham apart, and her direct running saw her in again before flicking the ball over Briggs, but she couldn’t quite beat Madison McComasky’s last-ditch block.
From that resulting corner United were able to grab the breakthrough. Jemma Purfield sent an in-swinging cross into the box which was picked off by Sheppard, only for the ball to bounce for Hildur Antonsdóttir who reacted quickest to fire into the roof of the net. It was the Icelandic international midfielder’s first Newcastle goal.
The Lasses were looking to add to that lead when a deep free-kick from Nobbs was headed back across goal by Thomas to Antonsdóttir, who in turn attempted to loop the ball into the far corner, but was denied by a last ditch header.
The home side’s best chance fell with half an hour to go when Briggs ghosted in at the back post to connect with a volley into the top corner, only for United’s goalie Anna Tamminen to tip the ball around the post.
Searching for an equaliser left the hosts exposed at the back, and they were ultimately undone by a long ball. Bradley’s header was flicked to Thomas who burst through one-on-one with Sheppard and although her initial effort was saved, the rebound fell perfectly to Nobbs, who composed herself before curling her effort past the despairing Sheppard for a crucial second goal.
The hosts could have grabbed one back when their most creative player, Beth Hepple, was given far too much room out wide and allowed to send a dangerous cross into Jade Pennock. However the latter’s effort was headed behind.
Still Lumsden was continuing to torment the home side’s defence and her latest moment of brilliance arrived when she rolled the ball over to Thomas in the box. However, the Scottish international lost her footing which allowed Sarah Wilson to hack the ball off the line.
Not to be denied, Thomas did grab her fifth of the campaign on 87 minutes. Captain Rachel McLauchlan looked to shoot from the edge of the area before sending Lumsden away down the left. Her low cross was then calmly swept home. And Durham were finally vanquished.
Photo by Adam Mackman via The Mag
Final Score: Durham 0 Newcastle United 3
Newcastle United: Anna Tamminen, Rachel McLauchlan (c), Aoife Mannion, Jemma Purfield, Kaitlyn Torpey, Hildur Antonsdóttir (Lois Joel 83), Katie Bradley, Jordan Nobbs, Beth Lumsden, Martha Thomas (Jessie Gale 90), Mollie Lambert (Kathleen McGovern 66).
Subs not used: Kayla Rendell, Charlotte Wardlaw, Freya Gregory, Hanna Németh, Gemma Evans, Leanne Kiernan
Durham: Cat Sheppard, Lauren Briggs, Maddy McComasky, Sarah Wilson, Beth Hepple, Jade Pennock, Dee Bradley (Grace Ede 69), Bayley Hutchison, Amber Keegan Stobbs (Grace Ayre 80), Rachel Lowe (Lucy Watson 80), Eloise Morran.
Subs not used: Anna King, Ella Wilson, Lucy Noble, Angela Addison, Grace Collinson, Emma Brown
Where that leaves the Newcastle United Women’s team
Five wins from five before heading into the first international break meant the Lasses couldn’t have wished for a better start to the season.
Finally beating pesky little sides like Durham seemed quite symbolic at the improvement taken place by Tanya Oxtoby over the summer.
While Nottingham Forest, Southampton and surprise package Ipswich Town are all unbeaten. It is perhaps Sunderland, just two points back the Lasses have to be most concerned with right now.
Women's Super League WSL2 Table 2026/27 - 4 October 2026
| Pos | Team | Pl | W | L | D | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newcastle United | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 15 |
| 2 | Sunderland | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 13 |
| 3 | Ipswich Town | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| 4 | Nottingham Forest | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| 6 | Bristol City | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| 7 | Southampton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Leicester City | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 6 |
| 9 | Sheffield United | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 3 |
| 10 | Watford | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 3 |
| 11 | Burnley | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 2 |
| 12 | Durham | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 16 | -11 | 0 |
Only the champions of the second tier are guaranteed to go up BUT so far so good with five wins in five matches and 17 league games remaining.
What’s coming up
We now head into the first International break of the season with 15 of our players involved for their respective countries. The Lasses return to action when they host Sunderland in the league cup at Gateshead International Stadium on Sunday 18th October.