This Sunday, Saints travel 315 miles north to Eppelton Colliery Welfare Ground for their match against Sunderland . It will be played on the 12th February with a very early kick off time being 11:30am. Supporters braving the journey are boarding the coach at 3am from St Marys. This is the reverse fixture against Sunderland and we’re hoping for another positive result and to bag those 3 points, just like the last time. HUGE thank you to the club for putting on a coach for us to travel the breadth of the country. For all those travelling, we wish you all safe travels.
Last time out
The last time that we played was in October where we played them at home in front of a 2,799 solid crowd. Saints were on a 5 match unbeaten run when we met them, our spirit was high and we were ready to fight for another 3 points. The first half we started the dominant side and the better chances fell to us, with Wilko letting fly with a 25 yard free kick effort within the first 4 minutes of the match, sadly it amounted to nothing as the Sunderland keeper comfortably saved it. It showed the teams intent and from Saints didn’t stop there, with two more coming from Wilko and Lucia around the 10 minute mark, they were stopped and blocked keeping it level.
The midfield area was a continuous sumptuous battle with Saints invariably taking the upper
hand in that area, the lasses pressured us well, and if they had a little creativity spark that could have really cost us. We broke the deadlock in the 58th minute, Winnie crossed from the left flank to find Wilko who flicked a header backwards which fell to the feet of our poacher, Ella Pusey, who with her first touch rolled the ball into the back of the net from 3 yard out, the
keeper thankfully, not close enough to save. Saints dug in and kept up the resistance for the
rest of the game, handling every attack that the Sunderland players threw at them. A late
chance had us all with our hearts in our mouth as Sunderland came from our left wing, Holmes was given space for a right footed shot that went inches over the crossbar.
The whistle blew, the match had finished, the supporters cheering and 3 points added to the
season tally, sending us higher up the table.
Looking ahead
We head into the game on Sunday
sitting 3rd in the table and only 4 points away from London City Lionesses and Bristol who are joint top. Coming off of the back of a 2 nil win over Crystal Palace, can we keep this form running? We really
hope so. The performance the girls put in against Palace was nothing short of brilliant and probably our best game of the season so far. Our away form has been a highlight of the season to date, if we can produce a similar performance against Sunderland, we’re going to be in for a treat. Hopefully we grab those 3 points and go unbeaten in three.
Sunderland are a very solid team when it comes to their midfield area, usually taking up the 4-5-1 formation. They have a lot of talent within their team and the ability to punish mistakes
with quick turnarounds and driving the ball into attacking thirds. I think that’s something we
will need to watch out for. They currently sit at 10th in the league and have gained 13 points in 13 matches, an average of 1 point per match. They’ve scored 18 this season but then have
conceded 20 goals, only keeping 2 clean sheets. From the 13 matches that they have played,
they’ve won 4, drawn 1 and lost 8. Sunderland’s home form isn’t that great, sitting 11th in the
table and losing 4 of the 5 matches they’ve played there, conceding 12. Looking their home
form we can see that they like conceding goals at home, our perfect opportunity to bag a few.
Although, football is an unpredictable game and stats don’t always mean everything.
Last match out they played top of the league, London City Lionesses, where they played very
well and managed to get a goal in past the very strong LCL side. Not only that, they faced
second place in the WSL table, Manchester United, where again the lasses ed very well keeping the visitors at only two goals and even bagging one of their own, thanks to Abby Holmes.
Overall
Sunderland are a team that we’ve only played once before, that game in which we beat them by a narrow 1 nil at St Marys thanks to a goal by Ella Pusey.
Sunderland have signed 3 new players this transfer window, including Kosovan international
Liz Ejupi from Durham, who scored in her last match. With Sunderland coming off the back of
two losses they are going to be fighting for a win which will make it a hard battle for us. The
battle this weekend, will again, be fought hard in the middle of the park. With the new signings hitting the ground running, this looks to be another hard fought, intense match which will have attacking opportunities from both sides. I’m looking forward to this match and I have a feeling we will see a fair few goals, finger crossed! I’m going to go for 3-0, a clean sheet and a nice set of goals.
Looking forward to Sunday and here’s to a hopeful 3 points!
For information on how to get to the ground take a look at our article on Sunderland's ground.
Match officials
Referee :- Cristiana Hattersley
Assistant Referee :- Leoni Harland
Assistant Referee :- Harley Hetherington
Fourth Official :- Phoebe Cross
KEEP UP TO DATE
Not making the long trip to Sunderland? Be sure to follow the dedicated Women’s accounts on social media for updates and exclusive content:
The club have also been advised that Sunderland will be streaming the game live on their Twitter feed.
Shannon Stephen
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