The Portsmouth Women are in National League Cup Semi-Final action this weekend - Jake Smith looks ahead to Sunday's encounter with Newcastle United at St James' Park.
Last weekend, the Blues strengthened their position at the top of the FA Women's National League - Southern Premier Division with an emphatic 7-0 victory over Chatham Town at Westleigh Park. Goals from Leeta Rutherford, Ava Rowbotham (2), Sophie Quirk (2), Emma Jones and Tierney Scott ensured a 6 point gap to 2nd place Hashtag United, who no longer have any games in hand to boast.
Jay Sadler's side have just 7 games remaining in the league this season, 4 of which are at home. This weekend however, they are set to park those league dreams to one side temporarily as the carrot of the National League Cup Final dangles tantalisingly above.
Sunday's opening goalscorer, Leeta Rutherford has been speaking to Jake in the build-up to Sunday's trip up to Tyneside:
This forthcoming encounter between Newcastle and Portsmouth is being hosted at the St James' Park, home typically of the club's men's side, who play in the Premier League. The Lasses (Newcastle United Women's nickname) do occasionally play at the venue, which has an official capacity of 52,350.
Usually they play at Kingston Park in Newcastle, which holds just 10,200. The club are targeting sales of 30,000 tickets for this Sunday's showpiece Semi-Final - It has been reported that just under 20,000 seats have been sold at the time of writing.
Pompey defender Izzy Collins has also given up some of her time to speak to Jake ahead of the match and starts off by talking about the excitement levels and how much the team are looking forward to playing at such an historic venue:
Last summer, the Newcastle United Women's side made the step up to operate full-time and, in doing so became the first tier 3 outfit to make that progression. In 2022, the whole club was taken over the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia - one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. Ambitions are high for all affiliated Newcastle United teams.
The Magpies (as they are also known) were victorious in 3 matches on the way to this stage of the National League Cup. In Round 1, Becky Langley's were victorious by 2 goals to 1 away at Birmingham & West Midland Ladies. That set up a meeting with holders Nottingham Forest in Round 2 - Forest had beaten Pompey in the Semi-Finals of last season's competition and were 3-2 winners over Watford in the Final.
Newcastle beat the reigning champions by a comfortable scoreline of 3-0 at Kingston Park before dispatching Fylde 4-1 in last month's Quarter-Final, setting up this weekend's meeting.
Portsmouth had a trilogy of away fixtures to fulfil to make it to this point. A 7-1 Round 1 win over Moneyfields was followed by a 1-0 victory at MK Dons in Round 2 and a 2-1 success against Ipswich Town in the Quarter-Finals in January.
The other Semi-Final of this year's schedule is taking place at the same time as this one between Newcastle and Portsmouth. Halifax play host to Hashtag United for a 2 O'Clock kick-off and the 2 winners will meet in April's Final. The venue for which has not yet been officially confirmed, however the 2023 edition was held at Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium.
Neither Newcastle United o
r Portsmouth have ever reached the Final of the FA Women's National League Cup before so whatever the scoreline at St James' Park, history is set to be made.
Striker Beth Lumsden (left) joined Newcastle from Pompey during the January transfer window and is ineligible to play in this weekend's match having featured already in this competition for the Blues earlier in the season.
You can take a more in-depth look into the opponents that await the Blues up on Tyneside by reading Jake's opposition write-up.
Head coach of the Portsmouth Women, Jay Sadler told Express FM that defender Kelci Bowers is being assessed after a groin injury kept her out of last weekend's romp over Chatham, while Jazz Younger is targeting an operation "sooner rather than later" following an ACL tear. She is out for the rest of the season and is not likely to return to the fold until around Christmas.
In response to his side's latest win, of which he was unable to attend due to serving a stadium ban, Sadler told Jake: "When this group gets going and they transcend that enjoyment into their play, it is literally a joy to behold and watch."
When asked about Sunday's Semi-Final and the task that awaits at St James' Park, Sadler replied: "We know the task at hand. We know it's gonna be a challenge but we relish these types of challenges in these types of ampitheatres."
The full 11 minute interview is available for you to listen to below:
Joe Linsdell is a Newcastle United supporter and presenter on Newcastle Fans TV who was happy to speak with Jake Smith on The Football Hour on Friday (February 23rd) evening about the upcoming game, first describing the feeling amongst the fanbase at the prospect of such a big match to look forward to:
Follow Joe on X: @Kenja7981
Tune in on 93.7 FM, DAB Digital Radio, Online or through the Express FM App from 1pm on Sunday (February 25th) afternoon to hear full coverage of this National League Cup Semi-Final tie between Newcastle United and Portsmouth. Connor Moseley, Jake Smith, Matt Drabble and Kirsty Roxanne will be reporting live from St James' Park, where kick-off is 2pm.
Jake will be joined by 2 more Blues supporters on Monday (February 26th) evening from 6pm to review the events of the game.
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