Newcastle United Women 3 Portsmouth Women 2 | OneFootball

Goals in either half from Shania Hayles saw United race into a two-goal lead but they were pegged back within three second-half minutes thanks to efforts from Sophie Quirk and Riva Casley.

However, Becky Langley's side responded in impressive fashion by retaking the lead in the 74th minute, with Demi Stokes registering her first Newcastle goal in the Barclays Women's Championship.

With chances hard to come by in the opening exchanges, Jasmine McQuade carved open the game's first effort 20 minutes in.

McQuade pinched the ball off a Portsmouth player in their own defensive third, but after driving to the edge of the area, her effort was straight down the throat of Hannah Poulter.

That chance was what United required to move up a gear, with Hayles netting just four minutes later.

New signing Freya Gregory's neat ball into the box was controlled beautifully by Hayles to take out a Pompey defender, with her next touch going across Poulter and into the bottom corner.

The Lasses almost doubled their advantage two minutes later when a deflected cross fell to Portsmouth's Georgia Freeland, whose hacked clearance rebounded off the bar into the arms of Poulter.

The visitors thought they'd found themselves level in first-half added time when Quirk's cutback allowed Emma Thompson to tap home into an empty net, but not before the linesman had flagged for offside.

United came flying out of the traps in the second half with Deanna Cooper getting first contact on a Stokes corner, but the centre-back could only glance her header narrowly wide.

However, that disappointment didn't last long. Seconds later, a long ball over the top released Hayles, who took two touches towards goal before caressing her left-footed shot beyond Poulter to double her - and United's - tally for the afternoon.

Hayles looked poised to record her second hat-trick of the season as she cushioned Katie Barker's cross from the right before slicing a half-volley narrowly wide of the far post from 18 yards.

Pompey clawed themselves back into the game just before the hour mark when Quirk whipped a free kick from the edge of the penalty into the far corner.

Just four minutes later, the away side got back level when Casley glanced a header home at the near post following Freeland's whipped-in corner.

It was all Newcastle from when the equaliser went in, and the Lasses were duly rewarded with just over 15 minutes to play.

United did well not to force the pass and kept the ball moving on the edge of the area with Lois Joel teeing up Stokes, who took one touch before firing towards goal, and via the aid of a deflection, saw her drive nestle beyond Poulter.

Portsmouth were certainly not going away easily. With less than five minutes to play, they had a string of corners, the most dangerous of which was an Annie Hutchings' long-range strike that hit the crossbar.

Newcastle United Women: Claudia Moan, Lia Cataldo, Deanna Cooper (Hannah Greenwood 53), Charlotte Wardlaw, Demi Stokes, Amber-Keegan Stobbs (c), Lois Joel, Jasmine McQuade (Rachel Furness 75), Katie Barker, Shania Hayles, Freya Gregory (Amy Andrews 67)

Subs not used: Grace Donnelly, Hannah Hawkins, Isabella Sibley, Sophie Haywood