Manchester City Women secured a hard-fought victory against Newcastle United Women in the Subway Women’s League Cup, but not without a serious scare. Laura Blindkilde Brown proved to be the hero, calmly slotting home the decisive penalty in a sudden-death shootout after a pulsating 3-3 draw.
Newcastle Put Up a Valiant Fight
Despite being lower in the league standings, Newcastle showed immense resilience. Lois Joel gave them an early lead, and after City went 3-1 up thanks to goals from Laura Coombs, Yui Hasegawa, and Gracie Prior, the Magpies fought back with goals from Freya Gregory and Shania Hayles to force penalties.
City's Laura Coombs acknowledged Newcastle's fighting spirit: "[Newcastle] had a lot of fight. They scored first before we scored three, but they still had the fight to the end. We let ourselves down a little bit in the last 10 minutes, but all credit to them because they pushed to the end."
Penalty Shootout Drama
Both sides were clinical from the spot, scoring their first six penalties. However, Newcastle captain Demi Stokes faltered, her penalty saved by Khiara Keating. Blindkilde Brown then stepped up and coolly dispatched her penalty to secure the win for City.
City Top Group A
The win puts Manchester City at the top of Group A in the League Cup. Newcastle, despite their strong performance, find themselves at the bottom of the group. Nottingham Forest sit in second place, narrowly ahead of Everton on goal difference.
Newcastle's New Training Base
Newcastle manager Langley highlighted the importance of their new training base at Cochrane Park. "It's fantastic being at Cochrane Park, and I think the biggest thing for us is playing on some world-class training pitches...Having the state-of-the-art gym has really enhanced us from a strength and conditioning perspective."
Looking Ahead
Manchester City now have a break for international duty. Their next match is against West Ham United in the Women’s Super League on Saturday, 1st November.