ITFC Women suffered their first defeat of pre-season at the AGL Arena this lunchtime as they were beaten 2-0 by Women’s Championship side Charlton Athletic.
Manager Joe Sheehan made three changes to the side which beat Cambridge United 2-0 last week with Maria Boswell, Sarah Brasero-Carreira and Nia Evans coming in for Megan Wearing, Lucy O’Brien and Maddie Biggs, the latter two missing from the matchday squad and Wearing dropping to the bench.
Charlton started the game brightly, dictating the play and keeping Ipswich pinned inside their first half for the first 15 minutes and forcing Town to defend a succession of corners.
On the quarter-hour mark the Blues managed a foray into the Charlton half, turning the ball over well but Anna Grey was unable to get on the end of Eloise King’s ball over the top of the Charlton midfield.
As the first half continued, the Tractor Girls grew into the game and started to spend more time in the opposition half with Evans surging forward on 22 minutes but only able to shoot straight at the Charlton keeper.
Charlton however continued to threaten and create chances with Sarah Quantrill eventually claiming the ball after a goalmouth scramble on 29 minutes.
The Addicks followed this up five minutes later with an effort which beat Ipswich keeper Quantrill but came off the bar with a follow-up shot sailing over.
Town immediately countered but Grey blazed over from just outside the box, with no other chances of note occurring before the first half ended with both teams level.
Charlton piled on the pressure from the restart, forcing Ipswich to defend in numbers. This paid off on 55 minutes and Charlton opened the scoring with a well-taken shot from the left edge of the Town box, which flew past Quantrill and nestled in the top-right corner.
Five minutes later Charlton doubled their lead after some sloppy passing at the back put them one-on-one with Quantrill and able to coolly dispatch the ball to her right. The lead was no less than the visitors deserved having dominated for large parts of the game.
As the game wore on, Ipswich were able to increase their possession but without creating any clear-cut chances, although Natasha Thomas had looked sharp and threatening throughout.
Sheehan made changes on 70 minutes with Wearing and Abbi Smith replacing Boswell and Brasero-Carreira.
Minutes later, Smith was involved in creating Town’s first chance of the half, playing through Thomas whose shot was held by the Charlton keeper.
Having gone two goals ahead, Charlton were happy to see the game out and dictate the play, holding the play in the middle of the park to see out the game for a comfortable victory.
Despite playing well in spells, Ipswich were markedly second best to a superior opponent today and now have two weeks to regroup before finishing their pre-season campaign away to last season’s FA WNL play-off finalists Wolves on 14th August at the Castlecroft Stadium.
Town: Quantrill, Boswell (Wearing 70), Horwood, Lafayette, Hughes, Robertson, King, Grey, Evans, Brasero-Carreira (A Smith 70), Thomas. Unused Subs: A Jackson, Hailes.