Newcastle United Manager Becky Langley spoke to the media ahead of this weekend’s Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland in the Barclays Women’s Championship.
Langley spoke about wanting North-East women’s football to be in the spotlight, the clash with Sunderland, Demi Stokes’ leadership qualities, and more.
Two derbies in two weeks for the Magpies
This weekend’s Tyne-Wear clash with Sunderland is actually the second derby in two weeks for Newcastle, following the side’s meeting with Durham last weekend, as a last-gasp winner from Mollie Lambert saw Durham clinch a 1-0 victory.
Speaking on their defeat, Langley stated “Sunday was disappointing because we had so many chances. In my opinion I thought we were the better team, but we weren’t clinical and we got punished in those last few minutes.”
She elaborated, “The mood in camp has been really positive, there’s been a lot of learning from Sunday. The girls recognise they performed well, but were disappointed not to have won that.”
Langley ‘wants to see North-East women’s football do well’ in the English top-flight
Geographically, the state of the Barclays Women’s Super League has always been more southern-centric, with only Manchester City, Manchester United, Liveprool and Everton the four northern-based teams in the league of twelve clubs.
The Championship, on the other hand, houses three key north-east football hotspots, in Durham, Sunderland and Newcastle. Langley herself admitted she wants to see a team from the North-East reach the promise land of the Barclays Women’s Super League too, especially with a lot of the current and previous Lionesses squad hailing from Manchester and upward.
Langley expressed “Rivalries aside, we want to see North-East women’s football do well. We want to see one of our teams in the WSL moving forward, including Durham in that.”
Newcastle hungry for derby victory says Langley
A Tyne-Wear derby across any level of football is one to be circled and targeted on the calendar. If you now throw into the mix the fact that it is this time the first Women’s Championship clash between the two sides, Sunday promises to be a stellar affair at the Stadium of Light.
There has been plenty of crossover between both Sunderland and Newcastle’s women’s teams in their history, but Langley acknowledges that this game will have that added bite to it compared to other league encounters.
She expressed, “Listen, the players are professional but they’re as excited about it as we are. A lot of them are Newcastle fans, so their families will have that rivalry instilled. The girls will say that the family don’t want us to get beat by The Mackems- that’s a phrase we will hear, but they will come to training with the same mindset of wanting three points, no matter the opponent.”
Stokes is ‘an incredible leader’ praises Langley
Finally, Langley touched on the qualities of Demi Stokes and what the former Lioness brings to Newcastle both on and off the pitch. She praised “She’s phenomenal, she’s been brilliant this week in lending her experience. She spoke to the group about her experiences at the Euros as a leader when she didn’t play many minutes which was amazing.”
Langley continued, “She’s an incredible leader and she said after the Durham game, like myself that we gave them the game, it was our errors, we both agreed too that the games we have won, we should’ve killed off earlier.”
Newcastle United make the short hop across the North-East to take on neighbours Sunderland in the Barclays Women’s Championship this Sunday at 14:00 BST.
