A dominant display from Newcastle United Women saw Derby County Women beaten 1-0 at the Don Amott Arena in the FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division.
Bridget Galloway’s header just before the interval was the only goal of the game despite plenty of chances coming in the way of the opposition.
A late penalty save by Anna Draper kept her side in the game, but it was not enough as the Ewes were narrowly defeated.
Derby had to soak up the pressure in the opening ten minutes of the game as the visitors started strongly.
Despite Newcastle’s pressure, it took 23 minutes for Draper to be called into action as she had to be alert to deny Elysia Boddy from range.
The Magpies were close to breaking the deadlock from a free-kick soon afterwards. Emma Kelly curled the ball into the area, which missed everyone and drifted marginally wide of the far post.
Newcastle had a great chance to open the scoring through Galloway as she latched onto Tyler Dodds’ precisely slotted through ball, before rounding Draper, only to smash the ball into the side netting.
Another opportunity came with just minutes left of the first half as Georgia Gibson fired narrowly over from distance.
The visitors’ persistent pressure eventually paid off as they took the lead just before the break. A corner was delivered by Kelly, which evaded everyone, only for the second ball to be fired back into the area and met by the head of Galloway to give Newcastle the lead.
The Magpies picked up where they left off after the break, applying more pressure on the Ewes’ backline.
Galloway thought she doubled the lead in the 70th minute, as her effort crashed off the underside of the bar and onto the goalline, however, the whole ball did not cross the line.
Once more Newcastle almost added a second, but some last-ditch defending by Charlotte Steggles to clear off the line denied the opposition.
Newcastle had yet another opportunity to put the game to bed as they were awarded a penalty in the 84th minute.
Kelly stepped up to take the spot-kick, but an excellent save down to her left-hand side by Draper kept her side in the game.
Sam Griffiths’ side will travel to Huddersfield next Sunday as they face the Terriers in the FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division.
Derby County Women: Draper (GK), McGrother (Ward 45), Timms (Jenkins 46), Jackson, Steggles, Ashton (Camwell 70), Sutherland, Sims (C), Wilson, Joyce, Mosby (Rhodes-Andrews 70).
Substitutes Not Used: Morgan (GK).
Newcastle United Women: Reid (GK), Stobbs (C), Watt, Dodds (Burt 87), Kelly, Gibson (Barker 60), Elson (Soulsby 87), Galloway (Ferguson 80), Bedeau, Boddy (Milne-Redhead 90), Potts.
Words: Mitchell Barwell.
