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A whopping 74,415 supporters clicked through the turnstiles at St James' Park over the weekend, but should we even be surprised anymore?

While there may be bigger stadiums elsewhere in the country, no other men's and women's double-header had a bigger audience as Liverpool and Alnwick Town came to town. Sell-outs are nothing new for the men's team - the days of 10,000 half-season tickets being given away are long gone - but Geordies certainly turned up in their numbers to support Newcastle United Women for a historic occasion on Sunday as well.

Such was the interest in the women's team's first ever game at St James', kick-off was even delayed by a quarter of an hour because fans were still queuing to get into the ground. Remarkably, there were 22,134 fans present to support Becky Langley's side against Alnwick Town. It was the largest crowd for a women's league match in England this season and to put that support into perspective, there was more fans at St James' for a fourth-tier game in women's football than there were at Vicarage Road for a Premier League clash between Burnley and Watford's men's teams a day previously.

This occasion had been 33 years in the making, but you suspect it was worth the wait for players, staff and all those who have been associated with Newcastle Women. Indeed, the players could not help but look around and point to Wor Flags' 'Howay the Lasses' banner in the Gallowgate End and the flags dotted around the stadium as they walked out to 'Local Hero' before the game. Katie Barker, Brooke Cochrane, Georgia Gibson and Beth Guy went on fire the hosts to a 4-0 win and you could see how much it meant to these lifelong Newcastle fans as they passionately celebrated each goal.

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