Ipswich Town Women overcame a potential Halloween Home Park haunting to make it 10 straight wins at the start of their league campaign after comfortably disposing of Plymouth Argyle 5-0 in the second game of the weekend double-header.
The Town juggernaut continues to steam forwards, but they were made to work hard by a stubborn home defence with Paige Peake scoring the only goal of the first half from the penalty spot.
It was the same pattern after the break with Town eventually pulling clear thanks to goals from Zoe Barratt, Natasha Thomas, Maddie Biggs and Lucy O’Brien.
Sarah Brasero-Carreira had the first opening inside 10 minutes but her stabbed shot was blocked by the keeper before Peake saw a header glance well wide from an Abbie Lafayette free-kick.
Ipswich had to wait until the half hour before taking the lead when O’Brien was bundled over in the area and Peake hammered down the middle from the spot to give the visitors the lead.
Buoyed by the goal, they almost made it two straight after when a mishit Brasero-Carreira cross looped over the goalkeeper and hit the inside of the far post before being cleared off the line.
Town keeper Sarah Quantrill had been a relative bystander during the first half, but she was called into action right on half-time when Zoe Cunningham cut in and drove straight at her for the home side’s first shot at goal.
The Tractor Girls continued to dominate after the break and played at a higher tempo with chances coming more freely, Barratt adding the second on the hour mark, tapping in from a Kyra Robertson cross.
Thomas made her bow midway through the second half and got herself onto the scoresheet after showing her predatory skills to tap home from a Lafayette free-kick.
Biggs made it 4-0 with a sublime chip in the 83rd minute after a brilliant ball from Robertson found her in space inside the box.
O’Brien then added the cherry on the cake in stoppage time after winning yet another penalty with a driving run and stepping up herself to grab a deserved goal.
Ipswich remain top of the table and go nine points clear of rivals Southampton, although having played three more games than the Saints, whose fixture at Bridgwater United scheduled for this afternoon was postponed.
Town: Quantrill, Boswell (Hughes 70), Peake, Egan, Lafayette, Horwood (c), Robertson, King (Hubbard 78) , O’Brien, Brasero-Carreira (Thomas 62), Barratt (Biggs 78). Unused: Jackson. Att: 624.