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Gibson: Women's football continues to step up
Written by Joseph Nelson
Newcastle United Women midfielder Georgia Gibson is thrilled by the continued ascendancy of women's football, as the Magpies prepare to take on Stoke City Women in the Adobe Women's FA Cup on Sunday.
Becky Langley's team will host the Potters in a 1pm GMT kick-off at Gateshead International Stadium, allowing many members of her squad to tick another arena off the list of professional grounds they have played at.
Just weeks ago, Newcastle Women defeated Nottingham Forest Women at the City Ground, with Bradford City's Valley Parade, Lincoln City's Sincil Bank and, of course, St. James' Park hosting the Magpies' matches in recent seasons.
"It is fantastic," said Gibson. "You see potentially even weekly now across social media that women's teams are playing at their men's stadiums. If not the first time, then the second or third time, across the last couple of seasons.
"It's starting to really step up in that sense and it is giving people experiences that they should be experiencing. It's really good."
Newcastle come into Sunday's third round tie on a 14-match unbeaten streak at the start of 2023/24, and having already defeated Stoke 3-1 at Kingston Park in September.
Gibson believes that the club's professional status has been beneficial for every member of Langley's squad, and she is relishing playing in a slightly different role to the orthodox number ten she occupied for the Magpies last term.
"The full-time environment allows us to be consistent with the training, consistent in what we are doing," she explained. "We are building relationships on and off the pitch which is helping towards the results that we are getting.
"We have tried a box midfield for quite a number of games and going three-at-the-back.
"We are confident in our ability to maintain our possession of the ball and by going with the box midfield, it allows us more time on the ball and more options to play with in an attacking sense.
"It is exciting, it is new, but we are all learning about it still. We seem to have executed it quite well so far."
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Tickets for Sunday's match are priced at £5 for adults and £1 for under-17s, and are on sale here.
Photograph courtesy of Colin Lock
"By going with the box midfield, it allows us more time on the ball and more options to play with in an attacking sense... we seem to have executed it quite well so far."