Women's Football Notebook: North East trio return to home soil after impressive opening weekend
Katie Kitching of Sunderland (centre) celebrates at Sheffield United
Sunderland face Birmingham City after last week's win at Sheffield United
(Image: WSL Football via Getty Images)
After a successful opening weekend to the season, Newcastle United, Sunderland and Durham return to the North East for home fixtures in week two.
Sunderland, having successfully opening the WSL2 season with an impressive 4-0 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane last Friday, welcome Birmingham City on Sunday, the team that took last year's champions, London City Lionesses, to the final game in May.
Both sides will be full of confidence, with Birmingham getting their campaign under way with a 5-1 hom win over Bristol City. Sunderland will have to be at their best if they want to earn a second clean sheet of the season but, if they play like they did against Sheffield United, they have a good chance.
They will be facing Lily Crosthwaite, formerly of Durham, on her first return to the North East, but a player well known to Mel Reay and her team.
Sunderland certainly have many attacking options of their own, which have clicked straight away on last week's evidence, and are going to cause most teams lots of problems this season.
Newcastle United face Sheffield United at their new home at the Gateshead International Stadium on Sunday. A game, on paper, you would expect the home side to win, although there were some surprises to the team sheet last week in the 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.
Jordan Nobbs was absent and with all the comings and goings over the summer, including late last Thursday night on the last day of the transfer window, it may take a while before Becky Langley knows her strongest side.
One player we are likely to see is Amy Andrews - now with the Blades - who scored two goals in seven starts for Newcastle last season, having led the line for Durham the year before.
A lot has been said about Newcastle's move "across the water" but I'm interested to see how the fans turn the inside red of the stadium to black and white on Sunday - I've no doubt they will do a good job!
World Suicide Prevention Day took place on Wednesday and it is fitting that IfUCareShare, from the North East, will be in the spotlight at Maiden Castle before Durham welcome Charlton Athletic on Sunday (12pm).
Founded and based in Chester-le-Street, IfUCareShare visit schools and football clubs at every level to educate and raise awareness of suicide, in order to help save lives. Both teams will be sporting t-shirts during the warm-up to highlighting the charity's message to "get what's inside out".
On the field, Durham face a tricky side, fresh from beating Crystal Palace 1-0. It may see the return to action in a blue shirt of Poppy Pritchard, who signed on a season-long loan late last Thursday from Manchester City.
The young striker played just over half an hour at Portsmouth and will be looking to get off the mark this weekend at her familiar stomping ground.
Matches between the two clubs have been settled by the odd goal in three over the last few years and usually go right to the wire. It is no surprise it is the WSL2 featured game on the FA YouTube channel.
Newcastle United's Champions League campaign is about to get under away - and we'll be there every step of the way. To mark the start of another season among Europe's eliite, we've produced a special 40-page souvenir edition ahead of the big kick-off.
Packed with features and in-depth analysis, it's a must for any United fan as we eagerly anticipate the visit of Barcelona to St James' Park. There is also be club-by-club profiles of every competitor in this year's tournament and the path to the knockout rounds wil a full list of match fixtures.
It is now on sale, priced £3.50, in selected independent retailers and supermarkets in Newcastle. It is also availalbe to buy from our online store for home delivery, including worldwide shipping - postage and packaging applies.