Charlton Athletic 1-1 Sheffield United

Bex Rayner's late equaliser grabs a point for the Blades in the season opener

United Women started their season with an away point at the Valley, with Bex Rayner’s superb 91st minute strike getting the Blades level against Charlton. They then went distressingly close to following the script of the men’s team from just an hour or so earlier, as the late equaliser was followed swiftly by a great chance for the opposition – fortunately, keeper Fran Stenson pulled off the save.

I watched the game back and here’s what I pulled out of it, including an extremely impressive debut from Isobel Goodwin.

Four players made their debuts in the starting XI: Ashley Hodson and Ella Kinzett in midfield, Jodie Hutton at left-back and Isobel Goodwin up top. In my last newsletter I’d spotlighted striker Jess Sigsworth as a player I was most intrigued to watch to start this season, but she began the game on the bench with Goodwin given the start in her stead – and putting in an excellent 90 minutes.

I neglected to mention Goodwin much in the previous newsletter, imagining she’d start the season on the bench (oops), so here goes: she’s a 20-year-old striker who was on loan at Championship side Coventry last season from Aston Villa of the WSL. Coventry ended up getting relegated with just seven points to their name, but despite the lack of quality around her Goodwin scored four goals in the back half of the season.

Forward Isobel Goodwin caught the eye on debut.

United head coach Jonathan Morgan talked up Goodwin upon her summer signing, referring to her being statistically impressive in that short stint:

“We looked at Izzy’s stats, we looked at them [in a lot of detail] and we soon saw if she had a full season she’d be one of the top performers based off last season.”

I naively half-dismissed this as just a nice soundbite upon a new player signing. Having now watched Goodwin for 90 minutes, I can see why Morgan identified her as one of the club’s top targets this summer.

She looks a real handful: rangy and with a surprising burst of acceleration that she used to surge past the last Charlton defender early on, lifting her shot over the keeper but just wide. Her speed later saw her close down a backpass and she was unfortunate that the ball ricocheted out for a goalkick instead of into the net. Later on she showed great awareness to tee up Sophie Barker in the box only for the Charlton keeper to pull off a fantastic save.

I’m already looking forward to seeing Goodwin in action again next week in her home debut. In this one, she worked her socks off across the full 90 minutes and was constantly trying to run defenders. There were a couple of bits of strength on show too, levering Charlton players out of the way or forcing them into miscued clearances. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

The game itself: although there’s been a lot of flux between both United and Charlton over the offseason, the expectation seems to be that both will be up towards the top of the Championship this season. Unlike United who recently waved goodbye to their two leading scorers, Charlton had retained theirs: the Championship’s Golden Boot winner, former Blade Melissa Johnson. 

It represented a pretty stiff challenge right out of the gate for United, who outshot their hosts 14-8 and had a 54% possession edge (stats via footystats.com). It certainly didn’t look like the two teams were feeling their way into the season, with the last 15 minutes being particularly frantic as United pushed for and eventually grabbed a deserved equaliser, with Charlton often looking a threat on the counter.

Molly Graham and Charlotte Newsham were the Blades’ central defensive pairing in front of keeper Stenson, with Rachel Brown at right-back and Jodie Hutton making her debut at left-back. United began patiently, with captain Sophie Barker dropping deep from midfield to pick up the ball from the centre-backs. This allowed Brown and Hutton to push forward into wide midfield roles at times, with Graham in particular looking comfortable on the ball.

This comfort came back to bite the Blades, though, as Hutton didn’t spot Charlton’s Kayleigh Green lurking and ended up inadvertently picking her out with a backpass. Green took it round Stenson and finished well from 18 yards.

United pushed straight back, with the fullbacks continuing to press high and an energetic midfield of Barker, Maddy Cusack and Ella Kinzett all keeping Charlton on their toes. Cusack was superb in this first half, forcing so many turnovers in and around the final third. It was Cusack’s tackle-slash-pass that saw Brown burst into the box from right-back; she picked out Ashley Hodson at the back post but the new signing from Liverpool flipped it over the bar and pounded the turf in frustration.

Chances dried up after half-time, with Morgan turning to his subs bench around the hour mark: Sigsworth came on for Hodson and immediately got on the ball and started committing defenders. Striker Sophie Haywood replaced midfielder Kinzett soon after as the Blades loaded up on attackers.

Goodwin – again – almost created an equaliser out of nothing when she read the defender’s intentions and forced yet another hurried clearance, with Kinzett lofting the ball over the keeper but wide from 25 yards moments before being substituted. 

United twisted the knife further: new signing Juliet Adebowale-Arimoro replaced Cusack, while Tara Bourne came on for Hutton at the back. Newsham moved out to the left and got forward wherever possible. The last 15 minutes were a wild ride in which United could have bagged three or more and probably should have conceded at least one themselves.

Graham headed just wide from a corner and Newsham forced a brilliant close-range save from a set-piece. Goodwin then laid off perfectly for Barker to hit a shot that was heading for the top corner but again the Charlton keeper saved superbly.

Fortunately, Bex Rayner – who’d actually had a fairly quiet game up to this point – decided she’d had enough of her teammates’ struggles to find the net, and did it all herself. In the 91st minute she bullied a Charlton midfielder off the ball 40 yards out, carried it ten yards and then struck a beauty that arced – finally – past Sian Rogers in the Charlton goal.

Bex Rayner curls in United’s equaliser from long range.

That equaliser was celebrated as wildly by the Blades bench as Jayden Bogle’s strike at Bramall Lane had been just hours earlier. But like at the Lane, there was one last twist: a Charlton goalkick was flicked on, Green got in on goal and squared it perfectly for substitute Karin Muya, but Stenson closed it down quickly to pull off an outstanding, point-preserving save.

A good start for the Blades, who face Sunderland at Bramall Lane on Sunday in their next game. As with the opener, the full match is streamable live (for free) via the FA Player (or, you know, you could watch in person). 

Meanwhile, full highlights for the 1-1 draw with Charlton are available on United’s YouTube channel:

Sunderland (H) - Sunday September 3rd, 16:00 KO

Like United, Sunderland have made some structural tweaks in the last few months, switching to a hybrid playing model that they bill as a “pathway to becoming a full-time professional outfit”. That continues the club’s upward trajectory, with 2021/22 being their debut season in the Women’s Championship (they finished second-bottom last season, but a comfortable 11 points clear of relegation).

Sunderland were a little unlucky to only draw 0-0 with London City Lionesses last week (a side that finished 3 points off top spot last year), holding the visitors to a measly three shots – an impressive feat considering the Lionesses were the Championship’s top scorers last season by 10 goals.

Matchday 1 around the Championship saw four draws out of the six games, with a 4-1 win for Southampton over Lewes being the only result settled by more than a single goal. If that’s any barometer then it could be a tight, tense, closely-fought season – here’s hoping United can get their first three points on Sunday at the Lane.