Durham 2-5 Sheffield United
Izzy Goodwin's second hat-trick of the season fires the Blades to an emphatic comeback at Durham
This was a desperately-needed win for the Blades, and arrived in emphatic fashion. After another week of turmoil in which manager Jonathan Morgan was sacked following “new information” coming to light regarding his “conduct before arriving at Bramall Lane”, the players responded brilliantly to turn in their most impressive win of the season.
Leaving aside the off-field events for now, United faced enough on-field adversity in the opening minutes of this one that you could have forgiven them for sinking. I try to avoid comparing the men’s and women’s teams here but as a season ticket holder for both, I’ve had plenty of experience in seeing United go 2-0 down and the objective for the rest of the game becoming “don’t embarrass yourselves”. The most recent example occurring barely 15 hours prior to kick-off in Durham. I’m sure you know how that went.
Up at Maiden Castle on Sunday, United coughed up two soft goals inside the opening 20 minutes and it was fair to fear the worst. The Blades, though, had actually started the game well, and kept their heads about them to rally back and eventually run out comfortable winners themselves.
Izzy Goodwin was the star with her second hat-trick of the season, taking her onto 10 league goals and 13 in all competitions, but there were vital first league goals for Tara Bourne and Jess Sigsworth too.
The Blades ran the Durham defence ragged, racking up 25 shots – a remarkable 14 of which were on target – and over 5 Expected Goals. I’d mentioned last week how United are towards the bottom of the league for shots per game; this was their best attacking game of the season.
This was an important win for United who hadn’t tasted victory in the league since November 19th at Watford. Even moreso with a quick glance at what was a bit of a wonky week in the Women’s Championship: leaders Charlton needed a late equaliser to draw with bottom side Lewes, second-bottom Watford beat Birmingham, and fourth-bottom Reading beat second-place Sunderland.
Those results for the bottom sides meant that United would have been just two points off a relegation place had they succumbed at Durham, and potentially getting more than a little twitchy. Fortunately, the Blades played superbly barring a couple of defensive lapses and will feel they’ve settled a few scores after the frustrating home defeat to these opponents earlier in the season.
With Luke Turner once again assuming the interim manager’s role (Turner has plenty of experience in this: as well as being assistant manager to Jonathan Morgan, he was in the dugout during Morgan’s absence and following Neil Redfearn’s resignation last season), United made a couple of changes to the side that had run Southampton close last week.
Jodie Hutton’s knee injury ruled her out of this one with Fallon Connolly-Jackson continuing at left-back, and Turner switched Charley Docherty with Jess Sigsworth in attack. Bex Rayner returned to the starting line-up following a knock in the game at Sunderland, meaning Alanta Brown dropping back to the bench and Ella Kinzett paired with Sophie Barker as a defensive shield behind Rayner:
For Durham, there was a slightly surprising change in goal as Naoisha McAloon replaced Tatiana Saunders. Saunders was excellent at the Lane and is top of the number of saves per game in the Championship this season for keepers who’ve played meaningful minutes – although that also speaks to how busy she’s been. Her replacement, McAloon, ended up having a similarly active afternoon.
The Blades had a good chance to take an early lead as Sophie Haywood fizzed her first-time shot over the bar, but soon found themselves a goal down. A long ball forward put Bourne in a race with Amy Andrews and the Durham forward got the better of her. Still, Andrews had a lot to do, and keeper Fran Stenson will have been furious at letting the shot from a narrow angle squirm through her hand and into the net.
Durham almost made it 2-0 immediately but Beth Hepple slid wide from six yards in front of an open goal, but minutes later the home side were gifted a second anyway. Rachel Brown’s attempted backpass was disastrously underhit and Hepple nipped in for a simple finish.
It would have been so easy for United to cave after two dreadfully soft goals in the opening 20 minutes, so massive credit to the side for what came next. Rayner – who was outstanding throughout – curled over a freekick from the left and Bourne timed her run well to power in a header for her first league goal for the Blades.
United kept pushing for the next 20 minutes albeit without creating many clear-cut chances, but Durham then handed the visitors an equaliser. Again, it was Rayner’s freekick and again it found Bourne’s head. This time, the United centre-back could only flick it up in the air on the stretch and there seemed little danger for the hosts until Rebecca Salicki inexplicably sent Bourne flying with a cynical shoulder barge.
The Blades had had a couple of penalty appeals turned down already but this one was an easy call. Goodwin fired it past McAloon for 2-2, and United almost went into the break with the lead as the Blades striker got her head on a late corner only for McAloon to parry. Haywood’s follow-up was kicked away on the line.
Thirteen seconds of the second half was all it took for United to make it 3-2. Rayner was taken out by a forearm to the neck by Deirdre Bradley as she chased after the kick-off – small reminder that Durham have had more yellows than any other team in the league this season – and she stayed down. That seemed to cause some confusion as Kinzett flicked on and Goodwin stretched out a leg to put Sigsworth in on goal – and the summer signing from Leicester City slid home her own first league goal in red and white.
That set the tone for the second half which was largely dominated by the Blades. Connolly-Jackson – who was booked in the first half – was replaced at the break by the versatile Charley Docherty and United as a whole cut out any mistakes and didn’t give Durham a sniff until one late save by Stenson.
Sigsworth fired one over and Haywood saw a fierce strike tipped over by McAloon, while Rayner got on the ball repeatedly and showed off her full range of skills including one particularly sumptuous bit of dribbling in the box that left two defenders staring at empty air in bafflement.
Kinzett, who got forward more and more as the game went on, played an inch-perfect pass for Goodwin to sweep in a fourth but the flag went up. Minutes later those two combined again to put the game to bed, as Kinzett’s found Goodwin’s feet with a good forward ball. The Blades number 10 touched off to Rayner, who sent her scampering after the return pass.
McAloon came out but Goodwin won the race, took the inevitable clattering from the Durham keeper, and won another penalty. Goodwin kept up her 100% record from the spot this season, and the Blades were 4-2 up.
Ash Hodson came on for Haywood – who’d taken an earlier whack – and youngster Eva Butler replaced the excellent Jess Sigsworth. The latter almost got a goal herself after a good run but saw her shot blocked.
As it happens, Goodwin might feel disappointed to “only” have scored a hat-trick in this game. After giving the Blades a two-goal cushion from the spot, she volleyed over Haywood’s pass inside the six yard box and also saw a close-range effort well-saved by McAloon after brilliant set-up play by Rayner. She also got brought down once again by the Durham keeper, but this time it was outside the box and the only punishment was a yellow card.
In between those two chances, though, did come the hat-trick. Docherty volleyed one forward for Goodwin to chase, and there’s usually only one outcome in those situations. Goodwin kept her cool and calmly clipped the bouncing ball over McAloon to make it 5-2 and claim the match ball.
As a Sheffield United fan who’s witnessed my club lose an awful lot of games this season, I really needed this one. With the news surrounding Jonathan Morgan and the end of his tenure as United manager, I honestly think it would have been easy for the players to cave after falling 2-0 down so early. Instead, they showed exactly what they’re made of, and did themselves – and the club – proud.
United U21s reach PGA Cup final
There’s no game for the senior side this weekend with the Women’s FA Cup 5th round taking place instead, but there was some brilliant news for United’s U21s. The Blades reached the final of the Professional Game Academy (PGA) Cup after beating Liverpool in the semi-final. United were 2-0 down but came back to win 4-2 thanks to a brace from Tilly Bristow and goals from Chloe Salisbury and Liv Edwards (you may remember that Bristow and Edwards both made their senior debuts in the Conti Cup a few weeks ago).
I just want to underline how fantastic an achievement this is. There are 20 teams who have PGAs, which naturally includes all 12 WSL sides (of which Liverpool are of course one). United are one of five Women’s Championship sides with a Category 1 licence, along with Birmingham, Durham, London City and Southampton, meaning that they cater for two age groups (U16 and U21) at this level as opposed to the one allocated to Category 2 PGAs.
The U21s train to a full-time schedule – another first for the club after the move away from part-time last summer. They’ll play Chelsea – the cream of the crop in the women’s game in this country – in the final, but just reaching that stage at all is something to be massively proud of, and you can see what it means as the winner goes in here in this great clip.