Team: Janice Rose (gk), Beth Hendy, Carrie MacDonald (c), Emma Dixon,Katie Wardle, Marian Simpson, Chloe Hall, Alex Grime, Emma Gibson, Leolie Telford-Cooke, Lucy Smalley and Rhian Watkins.

Morpeth started their home campaign keen to maintain their winning start but on this occasion the canny team of doctors were just able to deny them.

The match started in balmy conditions and this unusual calm weather for Longhirst seemed to unsettle the home side.  They started very shakily, panicking in possession and making rash tackles.   Packed with experience, the Medics took full advantage and laid siege to the goal.  Within ten minutes they were in front with a crisp cross being punched home clinically before anyone could react.

The visitors continue to push forward with their pacy wingers proving to be a particular handful.  Slowly but surely though, Morpeth started to find their feet and looked increasingly more resolute in defence although they were yet to put the opposition’s goalkeeper under any major threat.

The half time whistle gave a chance to regroup with a tactical switch which involved pushing the sweeper forward in behind the centre halves and adopt a more attacking formation. 

The change almost instantly paid off with a good move down the right culminating in a shot from Smalley that she blasted over the bar.  Confidence started to build with MacDonald able to use her long reach to good effect in turning defence into attack.  Wardle and Simpson worked tirelessly in the middle whilst Hall (making a promising debut) and Gibson started to get more of the ball and drive forward from deep.

The home defence almost became redundant as wave after wave of attacks failed to bring the equaliser.  Both Telford-Cooke and Watkins went close but the keeper was quick to react and went down quickly to parry the ball to safety.  She then did well to deny Smalley when put clean through by Grime. 

It seemed only a matter of time for Morpeth to score but despite sticking to their solid game plan and creating chances through patient build up, the backboard was not hit.  Although disappointed not to take anything from the match, its clear that this blended team of experience and youth will prove a match for any side in the league.

Result: 2-0
Scorer: Emma Dixon
MOM: Emma Dixon

Team: Janice Rose (gk), Beth Hendy, Carrie MacDonald (c), Emma Dixon, Ailsa MacGregor, Emma Reeve,Katie Wardle,Fiona Grant, Alex Grimes, Emma Gibson, Leolie Telford-Cooke Lucy Smalley and Marian Simpson.

Morpeth started their league campaign facing a team that have become somewhat of a boogie team in recent years.  Always keenly contested and with rarely more than one goal in it, the 2nd of Newcastle and Morpeth respectively always seem to fight out a tight game.

Without any warm up friendly and with a couple of new players to integrate, Morpeth looking a little disjointed early on but as the match progressed them looked more confident and their play looked more assured.

The early pressure was mainly from the home side as Morpeth gradually found their feet.   Younger Dixon on her debut, MacDonald and Hendy marked and tackled well at the back and look like forming a promising defensive line for the season. Gibson and Telford-Cooke was the outlet for Morpeth on the left side and several promising moves came to nothing down that side of the pitch.  Simpson and Wardle slowly asserted their quality in central midfield and the visitors started to boss the game.

A pacy break down the right via the elder Dixon (now Smalley) came across the pitch and found Telford-Cooke bursting into the circle on the left, her first shot was well saved but with considerable composure, she lifted the rebound over the keeper to put Morpeth ahead.

Newcastle’s pace down the right continued to mean that Morpeth were never comfortable in the lead but they were creating the more clear cut opportunities.  The home team’s defence were resolute and held out until well into the second half.

A lovely team move saw the ball passed on by virtually every player, down the right via Simpson, through the midfield through Wardle and out to the right wing and Smalley, her powerful cross to the top of the circle was meet perfectly by younger Dixon who capped an impressive debut by cracking a first time belter into the back of the net before the keeper had time to set herself.

With the game lost, Newcastle to their credit continued to push forward ad looked like they would get a consolation when their winger broke through the defence.  However, Rose came crashing out and knocked the ball to safety to seal a solid opening victory for Morpeth.

Be sure to keep checking this page for any announcements that may concern upcoming games.

Match Reports will also be posted here in the future, below is an example.

The game started off rather tentatively, as expected, with each team checking out their opposition. North Shields tried to use their youth and pace by putting long balls beyond the defence, but these were well dealt with by the experienced back four of Fairbrother, Ogden, Kendall and Mulligan.

The visitors closed down play well which didn’t allow Morpeth much time on the ball at all. The long aerial balls were working well in so far as terrorising the North Shields defence, but the bright conditions made it difficult for even the Morpeth forwards to pick up the ball.

15 minutes in to the game Morpeth were awarded a short corner. Set pieces would have to be well executed if Morpeth were to win the game, and they certainly didn’t disappoint with their first attempt of the game. Will McLean sent a pin point accurate injection to Danecki to set it up perfectly for an Ogden special drag-flick into the roof of the net. 1-0 to Morpeth.

North Shields tried in vain to equalise before half time, but the home side defended well, marshalled superbly by Hugh Potter and Bruce McPate in the middle. Sitting back and luring North Shields out of their half worked well allowing wingers McLean and Gayner to break and cause havoc with counter attacks, but North Shields’ defence stayed just as solid keeping the score at 1-0 at the break.

Despite being happy with how they were playing, and clear on how the second half needed to be played, things couldn’t have gone worse for the Division 2 Champions as North Shields equalised immediately after the break.

Morpeth certainly had their chances to win the game back with many attempts squandered. Not wanting the game to finish a draw, or even worse a loss, Morpeth did not want to waste too many more decent chances. They ventured into their opposing D on several occasions but just couldn’t apply the finishing touch.

North Shields, ever resilient and refusing to give up, pushed to steal a late winner if possible. This ended up being their downfall however when gaps were left in the midfield. A North Shields attack was tidied up by the defence and moved quickly up front for Danecki to surge into the D drawing out the keeper to then centre the ball for youngster Ritchie Brown to apply the finishing touch to send the ball in to the back of the net.

2-1 the game finished to Morpeth capping off a fantastically successful season for the northerners. 21 wins from 22 games played, and 11 points clear of 2^nd place. A great performance throughout the season from all of the squad. Going up into Division 1, Morpeth will look forward to this repeated fixture and hope that they will continue as they left off and do enough to stay in Division 1 for some time.