Morpeth Town ladies have started life as a football team in fine style and are looking to gather momentum.

Only brought together over the summer, the Highwaymen’s newly formed women’s team have enjoyed a series of firsts – their first game ever, their first league game in their brief history and their first victories.

Manager James Callaghan, supported by club Juniors chairman Paul Barwick, saw huge interest in the new community side, with some ladies seeking to train and keep fit while the majority were keen to be part of a squad that competed in league football.

They kicked off life at Craik Park with a thumping 13-0 win over a short-handed Ashington outfit, before leading 8-0 at half-time in their opening league game against the same opposition. The game was then abandoned with Ashington short of players and their keeper suffering a nasty facial injury on the stroke of half-time.

A closer contest the following Wednesday saw Town leading 4-0 against Gosforth Bohemians, thanks to a quadruple from Orla Callaghan. The visitors fought their way back to 4-4, only for Callaghan to come back off the bench to earn a 6-4 win.

With more women stepping forward to join the training squad, the interest in the team has been fantastic.

“We wanted to create a women’s team for two reasons,” said juniors chairman Paul Barwick.

“Firstly, it was long overdue as there was no football offering in Morpeth for women. And secondly, we needed to create a pathway into adult female football for our increasing number of junior girls members, some of whom are approaching their final seasons in youth football.

“We’re delighted with what we’ve achieved over the summer. From a speculative open session at the end of May, we now have a squad of 21 players with more wanting to join, plus a regular participation group of around a dozen that come along and train for exercise / fun / social reasons. I can only see this going from strength to strength.

“I’m very grateful to James Callaghan for taking on the role of team coach. James has coached girls football in the past at the club, but we’d welcome interest / support from others that would be keen to be part of the team’s coaching staff – especially female coaches.

“The interest that has been generated during the women’s first few matches has been fantastic. They’ve attracted crowds of between 100-150 which is really positive.”