Nottingham Forest Women 2 Newcastle United Women 1 | OneFootball

A frantic eight-minute spell saw three goals scored between the two sides, and it was United who went ahead first.

Beth Lumsden's brave run past two defenders ended in a calm finish beyond Georgia Ferguson. However, immediately after the restart, Forest got themselves back level through Aimee Claypole.

And five minutes after going behind, Forest took the lead for the first time in the match when Kirsty Smith was picked out unmarked at the back post to tap home into an empty net.

In a game which saw both sides push for an opening in the early exchanges, it was Forest who first went closest after ten minutes. Vivienne Lia crossed to the edge of the area, allowing Tove Almqvist to fire an effort goal-bound, but it was straight at Femke Liefting.

Less than a minute later, it was United's turn to ask questions as Lumsden charged into the box and fizzed a low effort to the back post, picking out Freya Gregory, but Forest got enough bodies back to block the effort.

Jorja Fox showed some nice footwork on her first start for Newcastle, which found her space to thread Lumsden down the right wing and pick out Jasmine McQuade, who made a trademark late run into the box, but this time it was well blocked as her effort headed for the bottom corner.

Fox continued to cause problems down the right for United as the first half went on, as she played a perfectly-weighted ball to Emily Murphy, with the Republic of Ireland international dummying the ball for Shania Hayles to strike just wide of the far post.

As the half began to peter out, a Lumsden corner from the right was well flicked on by Hayles, and a high bounce saw Murphy attempt an acrobatic bicycle kick with the last kick of the half, forcing Ferguson to scramble low and push the ball away.

After a first half of pressure, United finally found the opening goal after 53 minutes. A long ball from Liefting picked out Lumsden, who decided to drive into the box and cut in between two Forest players before finding the back of the net.

However, Newcastle's lead lasted less than 60 seconds as, directly from the restart, Forest went down United's left and managed to thread the ball across the box to allow Claypole to tap home.

Five minutes later and Newcastle find themselves behind. A quick breakout from a United corner saw Forest break up the pitch and into the box with Claypole, who turned provider and teed up an unmarked Smith at the back post.

Despite going behind in quickfire fashion, Newcastle continued to push forward, and Lumsden was the biggest threat. United's number 26 picked up the ball halfway inside the Forest half before driving forward and zipping an effort skidding off the surface, which forced Ferguson to divert her effort wide.

With less than ten minutes remaining, substitute Aoife Mannion was agonisingly close to opening her account for Newcastle when she met Lumsden's corner at the back post; however, her looping header fell narrowly wide with Ferguson rooted to the spot.

The Lasses were refusing to give up as they pushed forward with some neat threaded balls forward, culminating in Molly Pike sending Lumsden through, but she was again denied by Ferguson, who stood tall and palmed away her effort.

Newcastle United Women: Femke Liefting, Demi Stokes (c), Malgorzata Grec, Charlotte Wardlaw (Aoife Mannion 73), Lois Joel, Freya Gregory, Jasmine McQuade, Jorja Fox (Lia Cataldo 73), Emily Murphy (Molly Pike 64), Shania Hayles (Oona Sevenius 64), Beth Lumsden

Subs not used: Claudia Moan, Deanna Cooper, Morgan Gautrat, Amelia Freeman