Newcastle United Women cautious ahead of visit of Sheffield United
Sheffield United Women travel top take on Newcastle United on Sunday
Newcastle United Women manager Tanya Oxtoby is not taking lightly the task facing her side when they come up against Sheffield United on Sunday... despite season starts at the opposite ends of the spectrum.
The Blades are yet to pick up a point after a narrow defeat to Leicester City at Bramall Lane on the opening weekend was followed up by a disappointing 3-1 loss to newly-promoted Wolves last Sunday.
The Magpies, meanwhile, are two for two since the season began with victories over Wolves and Bristol City in their two WL2 games so far.
Sheffield United are one of just three teams yet to pick up a point in the division, with Durham and Bristol City beneath them on goal difference, however Oxtoby isn’t paying too much attention to that at this stage as she prepares her side to face Stephen Healy’s team at Gateshead on Sunday.
"There is no easy game in this league; we're at home, and we want to impose ourselves as we always do, but we have to treat each game with respect,” said former Northern Ireland boss Oxtoby.
"It's about us continuing to work on the areas we want to continue to build on, and from our perspective we're on a run of good form, so we want to carry that on."
Blades boss Healy hinted following last week’s defeat against Wolves that there was almost an expectation that United would take a bit of time to get into their rhythm after am influx of new faces during the summer, including a couple who came in late in the window.
He said: "Yeah, 100%. Look, it's game week two, as we said it's the time where it's a new team, new players. We've had to chop and change a bit from last week, we're still gelling together.”