Ipswich Town shared points with promotion rivals Watford this afternoon, a late Golden Girls equaliser denying the Tractor Girls a win in Ruislip as the game ended 1-1.
Town manager Joe Sheehan made one change to the team which lost to Lewes at home in the FA Cup last week with Eloise King replacing Bonnie Horwood in the middle of the park and taking the captain’s armband for the game.
As expected between two of the division’s heavyweights, the game started brightly and Abbie Lafayette was called into action after six minutes, clearing the ball from inside Town’s six-yard box.
A minute later, Watford won a corner and the resulting foray resulted in a shot on goal, which was well held by Town keeper Sarah Quantrill.
On 11 minutes, Ipswich created their first chance of the game with Anna Grey bursting down the left-hand side before putting a cross into the box, Sophie Peskett latched on the loose ball but her low shot was comfortably held by the Watford keeper Georgie Ferguson.
The game continued as an even contest with nothing of note until 23 minutes when a Town corner was only cleared as far as Peskett, who was able to play it towards Grey for a looping shot straight to the keeper.
As the match progressed towards half-time, Town started to push forward in search of a goal. On 36 minutes, Lucy O’Brien won a free-kick on the edge of the Watford box but Lafayette’s tame effort did not trouble Ferguson.
Just as the half was about to draw to a close, Town broke the deadlock. Lafayette’s cross from the left was spilled by Ferguson into the path of an onrushing Lucy O’Brien, who was able to coolly slot the ball home from 12 yards out.
The referee brought the game to a halt shortly after with Town being good for the lead in a keenly contested match.
The second half continued in the same vein as the first with both teams looking to get the ball into their opponent’s box as quickly as possible.
On 55 minutes Watford won a free-kick in a dangerous area outside the Town box but chose to take it short rather shoot from distance, allowing midfielder Kyra Robertson to shepherd the ball out for a goal-kick.
Four minutes later, Peskett was able to thread the ball through the defence, but O’Brien was not quite able to beat the keeper to the ball on the edge of the box and double her goal tally.
Shortly after that, Watford broke towards Town’s goal but the ball was blasted over from the left.
On 61 minutes Sheehan made his first switch, replacing Peskett with Zoe Barratt. Town won another corner soon after, however Natasha Thomas was not able to get her headed effort on target.
Town continued to dominate the game for the next 10 minutes with Grey’s runs at the Watford defence causing the hosts problems.
On 65 minutes the travelling faithful thought Ipswich had doubled their lead with the ball in the back of the Watford net from what appeared to be an own goal, but Thomas was adjudged to have been offside in the build-up.
Watford, however, were by no means out of the contest and as the game entered its closing stages, ramped up the pressure on Town, even after Watford forward Bianca Baptiste was sin-binned for her vociferous penalty appeal. Sheehan looked to shore up the defence on 87 minutes, replacing Grey with Horwood.
The Golden Girls started to pin Town back in their half and put long balls into the box, and in the second minute of injury time finally found an equaliser.
Annie Rossiter’s deep cross evaded the Town defence and Poppy Wilson was able to beat Summer Hughes to the ball to head home at the far post.
Town immediately looked to restore the lead from the restart, getting the ball forward to Barratt who was able to run into the box, but her shot across goal was just wide. Four minutes into injury time, Sarah Brasero-Carreira replaced goal-scorer O’Brien, but the hosts were able to hold on for a point.
On the balance of play, a draw was probably a fair result, but having controlled a large portion of the second half, conceding a late equaliser seemed a real gut-punch for Ipswich, the players looking bereft at the final whistle.
With league leaders Oxford United losing their first game of the season away to Cheltenham, Town will be doubly frustrated at not being able to close the gap on first place.
Ipswich Town Women are back on the road next weekend for further league action, taking on seventh placed Bridgwater United.
Starting XI: Quantrill, Boswell, Wearing, Lafayette, Hughes, Robertson, King, Grey (Horwood 87), O’Brien (Brasero-Carreira 90+2), Peskett (Barratt 61), Thomas. Unused: Meollo, Evans.