A great show for women’s football – Second tier set for taste of Wear-Tyne derby

Sunderland midfielder Jenna Dear believes this weekend’s Wear-Tyne derby will be a huge occasion for women’s football in the north east.

The Black Cats host Newcastle in the first competitive fixture between the two clubs in the Women’s Championship at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.

The sides met in a pre-season friendly last year, which Sunderland won, but Newcastle have since been promoted to the second tier of women’s football.

The match is on track to set a new attendance record in the division with more than 14,000 fans expected and Dear knows how much the contest means to the region.

She told the PA news agency: “I think it’s massive, it’s great for the north east. It’s been a long time coming, it’s exciting.

“We had the pre-season game against them last year, which was massive and drew a big crowd at Eppleton. I think it’s going to be a great show for women’s football and hopefully Sunderland come out with a win.

“Obviously the girls that are from up here know how big the derby is and how much it means to the north east.

“Just seeing how big the derby is with the men’s game that happened last season, a few of the girls went to watch it. You could see how massive and how much it means to Sunderland fans up here.

“You can take little bits away from that. Obviously not getting too attracted to that and drawn into that, it’s another league game and a must-win game for us.”

There is plenty of crossover between the two clubs, with some players having played for both teams, including goalkeeper Claudia Moan, who made the move from Sunderland to Newcastle in the summer.

Newcastle head coach Becky Langley was mentored by Sunderland boss Mel Reay as a young coach and hopes to take advantage of some of the bite a derby can provide.

“It’s a special game where you need incredible focus on what your process is and what your job role is individually,” Langley told a press conference.

“But you should have that extra spark, you should have that extra excitement going into such an important fixture for our region.

“The players are professionals, they’re excited about it, a lot of them will be Newcastle fans and their families will have that rivalry.

“The girls are saying, ‘My family don’t want us to get beaten by the Mackems’. But they’re professional, they come to training to do a job and they want three points every weekend.”

The north east have not been represented in the Women’s Super League since Sunderland were relegated to the third tier in 2018 after being denied a place in the top two divisions when the women’s pyramid was restructured.

However, Reay hopes having three strong Championship teams in Sunderland, Newcastle and Durham can be beneficial.

She told a press conference: “I think it’s huge for the area. We’re not quite WSL standard all three teams, but we’re strong Championship teams.

“It’s important to have sustainability within the area so players in the pathway can have an exit route into becoming professional footballers.

“As time goes on we want to progress and be higher up. If we could get into the WSL in the future then that’s great for the area because it brings a lot of revenue into the city.”

Langley also hopes to see a team from the north east reach the top flight soon.

“Rivalries aside, myself and Mel at Sunderland are female football advocates and we want to see north east women’s football doing well,” she said.

“To have one of our teams, I include Durham in that, in the WSL would be really important for north east football and women’s football as a whole.”