While the World Cup sucks the joy out of football this winter, we can take solace in the fact that there is a match on at St James’ Park today as Newcastle United Women take on Barnsley Women in the Vitality FA Cup second round – Kick off is at 2pm.
Becky Langley’s played at St James’ Park last season and broke records for their attendance for a Women’s league game. This time around they’re hoping to surpass that figure for the second round cup tie.
Today’s opponents hail from the same league as NUWFC, the FA Woman’s National League Division One North and are sitting in fourth place, three points behind second-placed Newcastle. The two sides met at the end of October with Newcastle coming away with a 1-0 win at home. The ladies will be hoping to replicate that feat and progress through to the third round of the cup.
Left-back, Kiera Skelton spoke to NUFC TV ahead of the game and talked about playing again at St James’ Park, saying: “I am very excited about the game at St. James’. It’s every Newcastle fan’s dream. The first time was so surreal and I can’t wait to experience something even remotely similar.”
When asked if anything has changed this season, Skelton spoke of just missing out on promotion last season and the effect that’s had on the team: “Everyone is hungrier to get promotion. We all felt the feeling of being so close but not close enough last year, so we want to make sure we don’t feel that way again this season.”