Sheffield United Women: October report
Our women's football correspondent takes us through a successful month in the league for the Blades
John Slingsby
United came into October on the back of a first win of the season at home against Lewes. With that first win under our belts, United would go on to have a very productive month in the league, picking up two wins out of three league games. With United glancing up the table rather than down, let’s have a look back at the month that was October 2023.
The Games
Sheffield United 3 - 1 London City Lionesses
In a game charged with emotion – the first game since the passing of our indomitable No.8 Maddy Cusack – United turned in a fantastic second-half performance that would have made Maddy proud. The Blades fell behind in the middle of the first period after Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah nodded home a corner, but came out of the blocks quickly in the second period and never looked back.
United equalised after the half-time break, Isobel Goodwin getting on the end of a pinpoint Jodie Hutton corner. From there, United turned on the style, with the game becoming the Isobel Goodwin show.
Asking questions of a stretched London City backline, Izzy laid the ball on for Ash Hodson to slot home for her first goal of the season and our second of the game. Izzy wasn’t quite done in influencing the contest: brought down in the box by Georgia Brougham, the former Rugby Borough player despatched the penalty for her second of the game in what was a display of domination from our No.10. United secured a second home win on the bounce, against the team that finished third in last season’s league table.
Sheffield United 2 - 3 Sunderland
A basketball-esque contest followed a couple of days later in Alfreton, as United began their Continental Cup campaign with a narrow loss to Sunderland. A much-changed XI from the weekend saw the Blades give a few youngsters the chance to shine: and shine they did early doors, as Ellie May slotted home to give us the lead before the ten-minute mark.
The contest continued to thunder along at a mighty pace after this, with Sunderland hitting the bar before Emily Scarr levelled the scores from the penalty spot after half an hour. A couple of minutes later, however, United regained the lead through Tara Bourne’s first goal in red and white since returning to the Blades. As it looked like a breathless first half might end with just the three goals, Sunderland equalised again in added time, Mollie Rouse beating Beth Davies just before the half-time whistle.
The second half was tamer than a bombastic first period, but both teams were still looking for that elusive winning goal. It went the way of the Lasses. Emily Cassap scored what proved to be the winner and despite the Blades going close to an equaliser in the closing stages, Sunderland hung on and United were left ruing missed opportunities in what was a fine advert for Championship and Conti Cup football.
Sheffield United 0 - 4 Birmingham City
A narrow cup loss was followed by a chastening defeat in the league. The Blades were looking for a third straight home win against a Birmingham side that had flattered to deceive so far this season. Even with first-teamers back in the starting lineup, that hope of a win was squashed a minute into the game as Brum took the lead through Gemma Lawley.
Despite rallying, United were outclassed by a Birmingham side that looked like it wanted to make a statement. A second goal came in spectacular fashion when a poor clearance allowed Martha Harris to unleash a piledriver from 25 yards that left Fran Stenson grasping at thin air.
It was game over minutes into the second half thanks to a third Birmingham goal, this time courtesy of Lucy Quinn. United did start to build a little rhythm through Bex Rayner, but as the contest came to a close, Remi Allen slotted home a fourth Brum goal to seal the contest and compound the misery of a United team on the receiving end of one of ‘those’ games.
Reading 1 - 3 Sheffield United
United responded to the Birmingham game in fantastic fashion, with a dominant win against recently relegated Reading. Attacking the game with vim and vigour, the Blades took the lead after half an hour when Ash Hodson latched onto a poor backpass and slotted home her second goal of the month.
Goal number two eluded United until minutes after the restart. Isobel Goodwin showed tremendous skill to dispossess a Reading defender close to goal and slot home from a tight angle for her third goal of the month and her fifth of the season.
The pressure continued to build as we looked to secure another goal and the three points. It came at the 75-minute mark with a superb team move: following a corner, Goodwin recycled the play back to Hutton who played a neat one-two with Rachel Brown before sending a wicked delivery to the back stick. A lurking Tara Bourne duly knocked the ball back across the goal for Charlotte Newsham to tap home.
Reading managed a consolation goal deep into added time but that did little to detract from a United performance that was dazzling and deserving of the three points.
International Watch
Another month, another international break for United. Once again, a few of our players saw international duty with their respective nations. Those called up were:
Fallon Connolly-Jackson - Scotland Under-19s
Tara Bourne - England Under-23s
Fran Stenson - England Under-23s
Connolly-Jackson started for Scotland in a 6-2 loss to Iceland and started the remaining two internationals on the bench as Scotland lost 2-0 to Serbia and 2-1 to Belarus.
There was better news for Bourne and Stenson in the England camp as the Young Lionesses drew with Italy and then beat Portugal. Tara started the Portugal fixture and played the full 90, delivering a fine performance during what was another well-deserved call-up to the England youth set-up. Congratulations to Fallon, Fran and Tara on the call-ups!