Newcastle United Women fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid Femenino – who are set to play Champions League football this season – although the game did allow for the club’s five summer arrivals to make their St. James’ Park debuts.
Mannion, who joined the club following the expiration of her contract at Manchester United Women, is enjoying a full pre-season, which has allowed her to gain valuable minutes across the three friendlies so far this summer, but knows Saturday was the toughest test yet.
“For us as a team, it was a baptism of fire,” Mannion told Newcastleunited.com post-match. “Atletico Madrid are a really good team and we saw that out on the pitch.
“It was just our third pre-season game this summer, and we’ve already been able to play a mixture of opponents.
“Of course, we didn’t get the result that we wanted this time, but we all managed to get valuable minutes in our legs.”
The Republic of Ireland international had already taken in St. James’ Park on the day she joined the club; however, being able to walk out in front of thousands of fans was a totally different experience, she added.
“For me, it was just great to play at St. James’ Park. This is a massive club, with a massive stadium, and the atmosphere was incredible.
“I do feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to play here, but now we’ve got to review the game and see what we can improve on moving forward.”
During her time in Manchester on both the blue and red half of the city, Mannion suffered two ACL injuries, which put a halt to her getting the minutes on the pitch she was after.
So, for the centre back to have come into Becky Langley’s squad and been afforded a good amount of time to build up her fitness and relationships with teammates has been a huge thing for her ahead of the WSL2 season.
“I feel lucky to have gotten so many minutes in pre-season so far and feel as though I’ve hit the ground running here.
“I’ve managed to get myself right in the thick of everything already, so long may it continue.”