WINDS OF WAR – aka Palace 2 Newcastle 2

Is WSL2 currently the most entertaining league in the pyramid? It’s certainly unpredictable, with anyone able to pull off a shock. And every single team seems to be going for it, with potentially three promotion places up for grabs, and the golden ticket into the top league, the WSL.

There’s quality everywhere you look and fervent fans following them everywhere. Helen M Jerome was pleased to join them in Sutton for the clash of the Eagles against the Lasses, and lucky enough to be last journo standing at the end, to talk exclusively to both head coaches, Jo Potter of Crystal Palace, and Becky Langley of Newcastle United.

Once both teams and the officials had gathered together for a moment of reflection and togetherness (above), this was a topsy-turvy match. It was all Palace at the beginning of the first half, with the bitter wind behind them and Newcastle barely setting foot in the Palace half, as the Lasses’ keeper, Femke Liefting (on loan from Chelsea, below left) made a series of decent saves in the onslaught.

The Eagles’ midfield duo of Justine Vanhaevermaet and Annabel Blanchard (below, right) ran the show, with speedy overlaps from Ashleigh Weerden down the left. The few bright spots for Newcastle came mainly from Jordan Nobbs (below, centre), still able to unleash a pile-driver of a shot or thread a line-breaking pass.

It was miracle it was still 0-0 at halftime, and again pretty much all Palace after the break, with Kirsty Howat making it 1-0 from a sweet cross from the dead-ball line by Blanchard (below, left). Newcastle took off McQuade and Hayles – who couldn’t get past her Jamaica compatriot Allyson Swaby (below, centre) – and put on Joel and Murphy. Then Howat’s replacement, Molly Mae Sharpe celebrated her 100^th appearance by scoring with her first touch in the 72^nd minute (celebrating with Weerden, below right). 2-0 up and surely all the points were in the bag for Palace?

Meanwhile, Newcastle poured on yet more subs – Sevenius and Pike for Lumsden and Gregory – as they tried to get something out of the game and piled on the pressure at Palace keeper Shae Yanez’ end. It looked beyond them. And yet…

Suddenly, in the very last minutes of the second half and into added time the boot was on the other foot. It was all Newcastle now, with Oona Sevenius (below, left) grabbing a goal in the 87^th minute, assisted by Morgan Gautrat. They had grabbed all the momentum.

The fourth official put up the board for six extra minutes. Palace’s Josie Green went down injured and had to go off, replaced by My Cato, so even more minutes were added. Every single Palace player, coach and fan looked at their watches. Could they hold on for three points?

The match went into its 98^th minute. The wind was now not only behind the Lasses, but helped a crucial, late, late corner (above, right) from Gautrat fly directly into the Palace net far into added time.

Newcastle were elated. Palace utterly deflated. So I stuck around to speak one-to-one to both head coaches.

Becky Langley, Newcastle United Head Coach (below, left)

So how does it feel after that? Must feel more like a win than a draw.

Yeah, I think ending the stronger team and having that momentum and pulling it back from 2-0 down… and then that last chance at the end. It’s margins away from us winning the game 3-2, so I’m really proud of their character.

You chose to go into the wind at the end, you knew!

Yeah, I thought we had the momentum with the wind. Definitely were able to turn them in behind.

And yeah, I think credit to the girls and credit to that little bit of class from Morgan [Gautrat] to produce that as a set play.

And yeah, I’m really proud.

Did it go in straight in from the corner then?

Yeah, I think so, it was amazing.

Also, I was quite impressed by your really vocal supporters.

Our fans are unbelievable, just right behind the team, home and away.

Ever since I’ve been here, they’ve just been really loyal supporters of the group.

And I’m really proud that I’m representing them every weekend.

This was must-not-lose game, I suppose, in terms of how many could go up this season. This is the best chance to go up.  

It definitely is. It’s a really competitive league and lots of good teams in it now. The last one we played was a really good Charlton last weekend, and Birmingham have obviously invested, and the likes of our North-East counterparts (Durham and Sunderland).

There’s so many strong and experienced teams in this league, so it’s no better time than the present to be able to be punching at the top of that league. But at the same time we’ve got to appreciate that everyone’s strengthened and every game is a must-win.

It feels like this league is almost stronger than the one above in terms of anyone can beat anyone.

Yeah, there’s a lot of depth across the league. I don’t think there’s any real front runner.

I think every team’s competitive, and Sheffield have taken points off teams already.

So, yeah, it’s a good position which is great for women’s football.

At the beginning of the season, did the owners give you a target of what you had to achieve?

No. My ambition has always been my own, which is to take the team from tier four to tier one.

The club obviously wants the team in the Women’s Super League as soon as possible, of course. And they’re showing their support with that on and off the pitch.

But we’re navigating a lot of change on and off pitch, so there’s got to be patience, we have so many new players, new facility, new staff. It’s going to take time.

There were a few knocks and injuries through the game. It was a quite attritional, physical game by the end. So do you think you’ll have to get more players in in January?

Yeah, I think so. I think every team will strengthen in January.

And as you say, I mean, Demi [Stokes] had a bloody nose, didn’t she!

Yes, she had a Hampton (wadding stuffed up her nostril), didn’t she?

Demi’s a battler, and she’s a fighter. And that shows her character.

She’s been a real ally to myself, and I really respect working with her.

The other one who was outstanding today was your keeper, Femke Liefting. In the first 10 minutes she kept you in it, didn’t she?

I thought she was very aggressive from the set plays. She came out and punched a couple and I thought she was really front-footed and she’s quick across the goal.

She’s a very young player, 20 years old with a bright future ahead. Chelsea think really highly of her and I’m really enjoying working with her. She’s very professional for her age.

Little story for you: when Femke joined Newcastle – just before she actually – she contacted Tim Krul who is obviously a Netherlands counterpart. She asked him on a phone call to discuss what Geordie culture was like – and I just think that shows her professionalism!

Jo Potter, Crystal Palace Head Coach (below, right)

Being positive, you had the best part of the game – and in the first 10 minutes you had so many chances. So what is the solution?

Yeah, it’s hard, isn’t it? Because I think the hardest thing to do in football is score a goal.

But when we’re so heavily banging on the door and creating chances, we’ve got to start putting them away. We said this last week about being more ruthless, but we’ve got to have that desire and that grit to be able to want to do it.

We’re conceding soft goals and we’re letting teams off at the other end and not taking chances that we should. So we’ve got to make sure that we’re toughening up a little bit both ends of the pitch. We play some really good stuff, we create many good opportunities, but they’re not coming to points on the board at the moment. So we’ve got to make sure we’re trying to turn that around

It feels like the wind played a huge part in the game today.

Yeah, it always does. Wind is the worst element to play in.

I’d much rather it throw it down than it be windy, and it’s not nice for any footballing team that want to play football to play in wind.

So it’s the same for both sides. We’ve got to make sure we’re managing that a little bit better and we’ve got to handle those moments a bit better.

In terms of the momentum of Palace at the moment, I know the result didn’t go your way today, but it feels like in the way you’re playing, you are going the right direction.

Yeah, and I think that’s the positive thing.

We are playing an attractive style of football, but we’re not turning that into points.

It’s difficult for fans. I think they do watch and go:

We’re playing really well. We’re dominating teams. We’re dominating games. But ultimately, we’re not coming away with three points. And that’s what we’re judged on.

And we are building. But it’s not a league where you play 45 league games, you play minimal league games, so you can’t really have time to gel too much.

We do need a little bit more ruthlessness, and try to turn it around a little bit quicker.

Although just watching the way you played, you seem to be improving all the time as a team.

Yeah, I agree, I think we are. We’re improving week in and week out, but we’re still conceding silly goals, which a lot of the time come from our mistakes which we need to cut out. Because I promise if we cut our individual errors out there’s not many teams that are cutting through us and creating clear goal-scoring opportunities.

We’re not going to expect no opportunities against us in 90 minutes. That’s not how football works, but we’re limiting them and then we seem like we’re giving teams opportunities and having to work really hard at the other end to create. So we limit those mistakes and start keeping clean sheets and turn these draws into wins.

Final question. There were a few knocks today, so do you think you’ll try for maybe some loan players in January?

There’s a few knocks we’ve got to look at, but hopefully not too serious. But who knows… it’s a long time to go until January, and things change.

All photos: Helen M Jerome