Ipswich Town Women host Cardiff City at the AGL Arena in Felixstowe this afternoon in their penultimate fixture of 2023/24 (KO 1pm).
The Tractor Girls will be aiming for a third home victory in three games having defeated the MK Dons 1-0 before last week’s 2-0 success against second-placed Hashtag United.
Cardiff, who are moving to a part-time model and changing their name to Gwalia United next season, are eighth in the FAWNL Southern Premier Division with the Blues fifth, 16 points ahead of the Welsh side.
The teams have met twice this season already, a 2-1 league victory in Wales on the opening day of the season, then a 2-0 win also in the Welsh capital in the FAWNL Cup in November.
"The girls and I know that we want to end the season strong with as many wins as possible, so we’ll go into it with that mindset and hopefully we’ll come out with the win,” said forward Lenna Gunning-Williams (pictured above, left), who featured in the second of those matches.
"They’re a very aggressive team right from the get-go, they wanted to right up our backs, so we’ve just got to give them the same respect back and play the game.”
Reflecting on the campaign as a whole, she added: "The season’s gone really quickly. Since coming back from Christmas, everything’s gone 100 miles an hour. It’s sad, but I feel like it’s coming to an end in a positive way, that’s why we want to win all the [remaining] games.”
The 19-year-old has been on loan from Tottenham this season and has thoroughly enjoyed her spell with the Blues.
"I’ve loved it,” she said. "I think it came at the perfect time, to the perfect club; the staff, the players. I’ve really enjoyed myself and the football we’ve been playing recently and back at the start of the season as well, it’s been lovely football and I think I’ve really developed as a player.”
Left-back Summer Hughes could return to the Town XI having only been fit enough for a place on the bench a week ago, but midfielder Bonnie Horwood remains a doubt having suffered an ankle injury in the warm-up ahead of last Sunday’s match.
The Tractor Girls end their season when they take on Billericay Town on Sunday 5th May, also at the AGL Arena.