Sheffield United 3 - 1 London City Lionesses
United make it back-to-back league wins on emotional afternoon at the Lane
A quick apology for the tardiness of this week’s newsletter – illness got in the way, but I’m back to full fitness now and here’s the latest edition of Women of Steel.
While I was mentally preparing myself to watch United men get the runaround at Craven Cottage, I was over the moon to see that United women – on a day where the players and staff were able to pay tribute to Maddy Cusack – got a valuable win.
The Blades have since kicked off their Conti Cup campaign, although I’m going to focus on the league game here. But to cover that off, United faced fellow Championship side Sunderland in the opening game of their group and led twice before eventually falling 3-2. The Blades made eight changes from the weekend’s league win, with only Tara Bourne, Jodie Hutton and Alanta Brown keeping their places. Bourne and Ellie May scored their first Blades goals, and there were debuts for Olivia Page and Grace Foy. Jess Sigsworth started the game having completed her three-match suspension.
Spinning things back a few days to Bramall Lane, then: United defeated London City Lionesses 3-1 with a strong performance in which Izzy Goodwin was once again to the fore (she was later named Barclays’ Women’s Championship Player of the Week).
United made some slight tactical tweaks for this one, and they paid dividends. They played a fluid front three with Ash Hodson and Bex Rayner pushing up outside of Goodwin, given licence to do so by the way the midfield set up. Alanta Brown sat in as a defensive midfielder alongside Sophie Barker, with Ella Kinzett roaming as more of a number 8 (Kinzett also played a role like this at Blackburn a few weeks ago where I thought she was excellent).
This had the double benefit of giving United extra players in midfield – they dropped into a 4-5-1 out of possession which allowed Fran Stenson to ping goalkicks long over the London City press in the knowledge that United had more bodies in the middle – and also getting Rayner more time on the ball. The Blades no.9 put in possibly her best game of the season, all inventive flicks and turns in possession and – like Hodson on the other side – haring forward to close down the opposition.
United’s first chance was a good one, as a superb fifty-yard pass from Hutton put Goodwin in on goal, but she chipped her shot over the keeper and wide. Barker fired one wide from the edge of the box after Hutton and Goodwin combined again, and United were well on top for the opening stages.
However, the Blades struggled with corners through most of the afternoon, and London City almost scrambled one home before taking the lead from the resulting one. An inswinger in front of the Kop was met brilliantly by Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah who looped her header past Stenson despite the close attention of Hutton.
United almost levelled practically from the restart: Goodwin muscled her marker off the ball and forced a hurried clearance that went straight to Hodson, but she lashed over from ten yards.
Moments later those same two almost combined again in the box, following a lovely bit of press-breaking football that started with Kinzett, Bourne and Barker all combining around the Blades area. Bourne then had a free header from a Hutton corner but couldn’t generate enough power.
Despite playing well, United almost went into the break 2-0 down but for an outstanding save from Stenson as Lois Joel let fly from thirty yards with a dipping effort.
After the break, Rayner and Hodson switched sides and the Blades started on the front foot, with Hutton and Brown snapping into tackles. Hutton had one long-range shot go wide before Goodwin set her up close to the edge of the box; this effort was better but still past the far post.
Minutes later, those two combined to equalise as Hutton’s inswinging corner was met by the unmarked Goodwin in the six-yard-box for a simple nodded finish – and now the Blades had all the momentum.
First, Kinzett clipped a perfectly-weighted through-ball for Goodwin, and the striker turned cleverly back onto her right foot before firing a fierce shot a foot wide of the far post.
Goodwin then flipped a great pass over the top for Hodson who volleyed one at goal but it rippled the side netting. Her expression after was the epitome of “am I ever going to score?” – but her wait was almost over.
Of course, Goodwin was at the heart of it again as she levered a London City player off the ball on the halfway line and drove forward into the box. Her pullback found Hodson who still had plenty to do, but she shifted it onto her left before powering a shot past the keeper to make it 2-1.
London City had a couple of threatening moments after Hodson’s goal as United again struggled to defend a corner, but overall the Blades defended well and kept searching out Goodwin on the break. It wasn’t long before the striker beat her marker in the box yet again and was brought down for a penalty and red card.
A quick word on the referee from this game (and I acknowledge that it’s easy to praise a ref after they’ve just given your team a penalty), I thought Megan Wilson let the game flow superbly and it contributed to a high-intensity match. It would also have been quite easy to only book Georgia Brougham for the penalty as part of the double jeopardy law, but Wilson took her time and concluded (correctly, IMHO) that Brougham’s trip on Goodwin was not a legitimate attempt to play the ball. Notably, Brougham did not complain at the call.
Goodwin herself drilled home the spot-kick to cap a two-goal, one assist performance and a deserved win for United. Sophie Haywood, Fallon Connolly-Jackson, Molly Graham and Charley Doherty came on for Rayner, Hutton, Kinzett and Rachel Brown and the Blades closed the game out, before Goodwin got a deserved ovation as she was replaced by Tamara Wilcock.
That takes the Blades up to 8th with a game in hand on the majority of the teams above them, and they have a third consecutive home game this weekend – and hopefully a third straight win.
Several players were visibly emotional at full-time, and the captain summed it up well afterwards:
Birmingham City (H), Sunday October 15th, 14:00 kick-off
If you missed it, Sunday’s game is a mere £1 if you’re a men’s season ticket holder – hopefully it’ll bring United’s biggest home crowd of the season so far.
The Blades take on a Birmingham team who are stuck in the starting blocks this season after finishing just a point off an instant return to the WSL in 2022/23. The Blues finished a whopping 20 points ahead of United last season but currently have just five points – and one win – from their six games in this campaign.
Part of that may be down to a rough fixture list to start out, as Birmingham have faced every one of the current top five in the Championship table – although they also have the uneasy distinction of being the only team that bottom-side Lewes have taken points off so far.
They beat league leaders Southampton in their last away game before holding second-place Sunderland to a draw last weekend. Despite their 9th-place position in the table, this could be a stiff test for the Blades.
There’s plenty of links between the two teams. United will welcome back Jade Pennock for this one; the Blades’ former Player of the Year was named the Championship’s Player of the Season last year. On the other side, both Tara Bourne and Ash Hodson ended last season on loan at the Blues.
And finally
A couple of odds and ends I want to throw in before I finish: firstly, congratulations to Charlotte Newsham who made her 50th Blades appearance last weekend and backed it up with a solid display.
Finally, it was great to see former Blades youngster Lucy Watson make her first appearance in 14 months on Sunday, following a lengthy spell out with an ACL injury. Watson left United for Chelsea in 2022 after banging in eight goals in 22 league games that season, having made her Blades debut at the age of 16. She was a regular for England at youth level during this spell, and her move to the WSL was no great surprise.
She has recently penned a new contract with Chelsea – underlining how highly Emma Hayes’ club rates her – and is now on loan at Crystal Palace in the Championship where she came off the bench in their 4-0 win at Blackburn last Sunday for her first football in over a year.
That’s all for this week, thanks again for your patience, and I hope to see you at the Lane on Sunday.
What's happened to Jonathan Morgan? He's been absent (as far as I could see) for the last few weeks.