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Sunderland women play Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Sunday in the Championship
Newcastle United are set to show off the club’s new Carabao Cup trophy at St James’ Park this weekend - where Sunderland fans will be in attendance.
Newcastle United women are set to face their Sunderland counterparts on Sunday afternoon in the Championship at St James’ Park as Mel Reay’s side look to avenge the 2-1 loss to their biggest rivals against Becky Langley’s side earlier this season.
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Sunderland and Newcastle United are separated by just one point in the Championship, occupying sixth and seventh in the league with 24 and 23 points respectively with only three games left to play in the current season. With no chance of promotion or relegation for either team, the two sides are playing for Wear-Tyne bragging rights this weekend.
Ahead of the game at St James’ Park, Newcastle United have announced that the Carabao Cup trophy will be presented to fans ahead of the Championship match between Newcastle United and Sunderland on Sunday. Langley’s side are aiming to complete a league double over their local rivals, having secured a 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light back in October.
CEO Darren Eales and club legend Bob Moncur will present the Carabao Cup trophy to fans at St James’ Park on Sunday. The match is set to break not only Newcastle’s record attendance for a women’s game but also the league-wide record, which was set during the reverse fixture earlier this season.
Black Cats boss Reay has challenged her Sunderland players to finish the season with maximum points and build on their promising performance against Manchester United in the FA Cup.
The Black Cats were beaten 3-1 in the quarter-final last weekend but produced a strong performance against the WSL giants. Sunderland return to league action away at Portsmouth this weekend and while a gap of eight points to the top of the league looks likely to be too many to bridge, Reay says it’s important her team finish the campaign strong.
"I was really pleased with the way we stayed in the game," Reay said. "When you look back, it sounds pedantic but the first goal is a throw-in that should be given to us. Yes, we have to defend it better, of course we do, and then the second goal there's a foul on Meg Beer that isn't given. It's ifs, buts and maybes but they're big decisions. We learn from it, we've taken a hell of a lot from the game. We've pitched ourselves against the best in the game and taken something from it.”
"We parked everything on the Tuesday," Reay added. "We came in, reflected, watched some of the clips back... but the game had a different feel and we've now go to focus our minds back on the remaining five games. The competition in the squad means that it would dangerous for any player to switch off. They know that they have to produce in training and take in the information, apply themselves properly so they know they're ready to take the shirt on the weekend.
"We want to use it as a catalyst for the weekend. It was great for the players to come up against some world-class players, see how they play the game. It was noticeably quicker for them, that was the instant feedback. The pace of the game, how well they move it and deal with under pressure. We'll use that this week and moving forward in terms of how we want to be as a team and how we want to use the ball better.
"I was looking at the Championship fixtures the other day and there's a lot of really good fixtures coming up. A lot of the teams up there are playing each other so there's going to be a few twists and turns before the end of the season. So for us, we've just to go and try and win the game. That's the challenge to the players: We've got five games so can we go and take maximum points? Then where we finish is where we finish."