Ipswich Town Women put in a dominant display to dispatch MK Dons Women 5-1 at the AGL Arena and continue their unbeaten run in the FA WNL Southern Premier Division.
Town boss Joe Sheehan made three changes to the side that drew 1-1 with league leaders Oxford a fortnight ago with Megan Wearing, Nia Evans and Freya Godfrey coming in for Olivia Smith, Abbie Lafayette and Anna Grey, with only Lafayette making the bench.
The visitors started the game brightly, forcing a trio of corners in quick succession with Ipswich immediately responding on the counter and forcing two flag-kicks of their own.
In the seventh minute Town won a free-kick on the edge of the box and Natasha Thomas’s header deflected off a defender and into the hands of MK keeper Chloe Sansom.
Felixstowe had seen several deluges of rain ahead of kick-off, with a 1pm pitch inspection required to confirm the game was going ahead, and the wet conditions seemed to suit Ipswich’s style of play and allow them to dominate possession, with the visitors pressing the Tractor Girls high up the pitch when out of possession.
After a more settled, even period, Town opened the scoring on the half-hour mark with an excellent set-piece effort. Skipper Bonnie Horwood stepped up to take a free-kick on the very edge of the opposition area, curling the ball around the wall and beating the keeper at the right post.
MK were not deterred, however, and went on the attack from the restart, with Thomas called into action to head clear what looked like a goalbound effort after Town had failed to clear from a corner.
Town ended the half stronger and soon after almost scoring through a Godfrey effort that pinged off the crossbar, doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time with Horwood again the goalscorer, the skipper poking home after a corner had led to a goalmouth scramble.
The Blues immediately made it 3-0 a minute later in stoppage time, Summer Hughes playing Thomas through on the right-hand side to burst into the box and rifle the ball across the keeper and in at the far-left post.
Town started the second half as they had ended the first with Godfrey breaking into the box in the 47th minute only for MK to make an excellent tackle to deny her a shot.
Seven minutes later ,Godfrey was involved again, flashing the ball in from the right with Thomas unable to get on the end of the cross.
Four minutes later however, Town went four in front. Maddie Biggs held the ball up excellently for Hughes to collect and maraud down the right flank and into the box and lay the ball across the face of goal to Thomas, whose shot was parried into the path of Godfrey to follow-up at close range.
On 65 minutes Town made their first substitution with Lafayette replacing Biggs, who went into the referee’s book a minute later.
The Tractor Girls then created a hatful of chances with Godfrey and Hughes a nuisance to the visitors on the right, before scoring their fifth goal on 75 minutes to end the game as a contest.
Godfrey, a constant threat throughout the game, yet again drove into the box and saw her shot palmed by Sansom to Lafayette on the edge of the box from where she blasted home.
Having gone 5-0 up, Ipswich could be forgiven for some sloppy defending in the last quarter-hour of the match and on 79 minutes the visitors scored a consolation goal, substitute Leoni Miceli bundling home after Town had again failed to adequately clear a corner.
With eight minutes to go the Blues made another change and Godfrey made way for Lucy O’Brien to make her first appearance of the season, the youngster having been kept out of the squad with a knee injury.
Ipswich then saw the game out in comfortable fashion with the only moment of note a long-range MK free-kick which was held by Town keeper Sarah Quantrill.
The Blues will be happy with a confident, assured team effort to comfortably defeat an MK Dons team that was willing to go toe-to-toe with the Tractor Girls and hold their own for spells of the game, despite the four-goal margin.
With Portsmouth losing 2-0 to Oxford United, Town, now unbeaten in five in the league, move level with Pompey in third place but with a game in hand.
Ipswich now have a two-week break from league action and will be back at the AGL Arena next Sunday to take on Hashtag United in the first round of the FA WNL Cup.
Town: Quantrill, Boswell, Wearing, Evans, Hughes, Horwood, King, Godfrey (O’Brien 82), Brasero-Carreira, Biggs (Lafayette 65), Thomas. Unused: Mitchell, A Smith. Attendance: 311.