United picked up an impressive win last Saturday at Bristol City Women and now return to Gateshead International Stadium on Sunday, as they welcome Sheffield United Women (kick-off 2:00pm BST).

Newcastle's number nine, Kathleen McGovern, has made a fast start to life in black and white, registering a goal and an assist in the first two games of the season, and manager Oxtoby hailed the impact of the striker, as well as her fellow Scottish international, Martha Thomas.

Here are some of the boss' key talking points from her pre-match interview…

ON THE START TO THE SEASON…

"The clean sheets are really important, and we worked really hard in pre-season, picking opposition that would challenge us, test us and punish us when we made mistakes.

"I think that has stood us in good stead in terms of the last few games. It was a really tough game against Bristol City last weekend, but to keep a clean sheet and the XG that they created down was really important.

"If you look at the stats from the time we scored (v Bristol City) onwards, we only conceded three shots, so while it felt like there was a bit of pressure, I thought we controlled the game well."

ON THE MENTALITY OF THE SQUAD…

"It's part of who we are, and (being mentally strong) is a part of being Australian as well. It's part of representing this club; you've got to be mentally strong, you've got to be tough and got to be able to grind things out; that's part of our DNA.

"We recruited players who have that mentality, and you saw that on Saturday, but we see that every day in training."

ON KATHLEEN MCGOVERN AND MARTHA THOMAS…

"(McGovern) is a sponge, and she wants to continue to get better. I think she found it tough on Saturday; there was a lot of grappling going on, but that's what this league is.

"I think having Martha in and around her, the two of them complement each other really well and share a lot of knowledge.

"The goal we scored on Saturday, Martha pretty much created that off her own back with her movement, but Kathleen being in the right place at the right time, they're complementing each other really well and learning off each other."

ON FACING SHEFFIELD UNITED…

"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.

"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."