The Heed, reduced to 10 players following Carly Salmon\u2019s sending off for handball and briefly nine following a sin bin, fought through late drama to earn their first win of the Durham FA Women\u2019s League One season.<\/p>\n
Olivia Black netted a hat trick to open her account for the season and strikes from Katie Lemmon and Jade Anderson \u2013 the latter of whom played the final 35 minutes in goal \u2013 added gloss to the scoreline.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very good performance,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to see that what we work on in training is starting to show on a Sunday and there were parts I was really pleased with in terms of how we want to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cPre-season has been turbulent so the first couple of games are still about getting the players used to what I expect and seeing them perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re buzzing to get three points, especially after going down to nine players at one stage and Jade [Anderson] having to play in goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough but the girls battled through and to go on and score two goals with nine players was excellent – it was a good test of character and resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gateshead Ladies will travel to Boldon Ladies in the second game of the season on Thursday night (6:30pm kick off), and Johnson is hoping to see a repeat performance to carry on their momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have to make a change and hopefully try to bring a goalkeeper in,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 90 minutes took a lot out of the girls so we\u2019ll count bodies and hope everyone has recovered and is ready to go at it again with a similar performance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"