Newcastle United Women 1 Birmingham City Women 1 | OneFootball

United went behind in the first half when Simone Magill flicked her header over the head of Claudia Moan despite a lot of Newcastle pressure.

Furness’ joy was clear to see after her bullet header beat Adrianna Franch and queued a rapturous roar from the Northern Ireland international

Coming in from the start after an impressive cameo last weekend, Lois Joel almost opened the scoring after nine minutes when she connected with Frey Greory’s cross, but her effort zipped wide of the post.

Gregory was proving to be a problem for Rebecca KcKenna down the left when her teasing ball found Emily Murphy at the back post. Still, from two yards out, the Republic of Ireland international failed to find the back of the net.

Beth Lumsden was finding acres of space down the right-hand side, which Emily Murphy saw and played in the right winger, but after cutting onto her left foot, Birmingham got enough bodies back to deflect her effort narrowly over the bar.

However, with their first time getting in behind the United backline, the away side took the lead when Magill headed over Claudia Moan after finding space in the six-yard box.

The Blues were almost gifted a second goal just three minutes into the second half when Beth Lumsden’s sloppy back pass was intercepted by Magill, who forced a good save out of Moan to tip the ball around her post.

Magill was continuing to be a thorn in Newcastle’s defence with her runs in behind proving difficult to mark, and United relied upon Moan once more to thwart the Northern Ireland international from close range.

However, only minutes later and Newcastle found themselves back on level terms through Rachel Furness.

Gregory delivered a pinpoint free-kick from out wide, allowing Furness to jump highest, attack the ball and send a glorious looping header over Adrianna Franch for her first home goal in black and white.

Both sides were pushing for the lead but unable to create many clear-cut opportunities, until Gemma Lawley came crashing in at the back post twice within the space of a few minutes, but both times saw her effort cleared off the line; firstly, by Demi Stokes and then Furness.

The title-chasing visitors were pushing hard to take the lead and looked ominous from set pieces, with Shannon Cooke skewing a free header narrowly wide from a few yards out.

As the game ticked into the 90th minute, Birmingham almost found an unlikely goal when substitute Choe Yu-Ri’s cross flicked off the crossbar from an acute angle.

Newcastle United Women: Claudia Moan, Charlotte Wardlaw, Hannah Greenwood, Deanna Cooper, Demi Stokes (c), Rachel Furness, Lois Joel, Emily Murphy (Poppy Pritchard 77), Beth Lumsden, Shania Hayles (Amy Andrews 86), Freya Gregory (Jasmine McQuade 71)

Subs not used: Grace Donnelly, Hannah Hawkins, Liv Watt, Katie Barker