Ipswich Town Women made it three wins in a row at the AGL Arena in Felixstowe this afternoon after coming from two goals down to beat Cardiff City Ladies 4-2 courtesy of a Lucy O’Brien hat-trick and Maisy Barker’s first goal for the club.
Town manager Joe Sheehan made one change to the side that beat Hashtag United last weekend with Nina Meollo coming in between the sticks for Laura Hartley, who dropped to the bench.
Bonnie Horwood, who was on the bench for the previous game, missed out through injury and forward Issy Bryant was also absent from the squad.
Town started the game brightly with Natasha Thomas latching on to a loose ball in the first minute and racing into the box, but couldn’t beat Dragons goalkeeper Laura O’Sullivan at her near post.
Moments later, Thomas went close again but was unable to get a proper connection on to a fast-moving ball across the six-yard line.
Soon after, Lenna Gunning-Williams drove into the box but there was no-one to meet her subsequent cross.
Town continued to look threatening but on 13 it was the visitors who took the lead with their first attack. Cardiff broke away after winning the ball in the middle of the park, Tianna Teisar driving forward before finding Ellie Sargent in space, who stroked the ball home across Meollo and into the net.
Town looked to equalise from the restart and on 16 Sophie Peskett won the ball in the centre circle before driving forward and seeing her shot blocked. A minute later Peskett was through again but her tight-angled shot was smothered by O’Sullivan.
The Blues were largely on top for the next quarter of an hour but found themselves further behind following another Cardiff breakaway. Keeper Meollo was caught out of position and was lobbed on the edge of her box. Although the effort wasn’t on target, the Ipswich goalkeeper was not able to scramble back in time to stop an on-rushing Sargent from striking home for her second goal of the game and make it 2-0 to the Dragons.
Town continued to dominate possession and on 38 found themselves with a lifeline after a Cardiff player was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box following a corner, Lucy O’Brien stepping up and scoring the resultant penalty to make it 2-1.
Both teams looked lively during time added on, Gunning-Williams and O’Brien going close for Town and Cardiff almost breaking through again just before the break, rounding Meollo but unable to beat Leah Mitchell to the ball to clear.
Both teams looked to take control of the game at the start of the second half and soon after kick-off Sargent forced Meollo into a low save.
On 49, Town were almost through on goal, Peskett playing in Thomas, but the ball was shepherded out for a corner.
Two minutes later, Cardiff were through on the left, but Meollo was out quickly to block. On 53 Thomas then found Peskett in space who then skipped forward and held the ball up on the edge of the Dragons’ box before being fouled. Boswell’s subsequent free-kick was on target but held by O’Sullivan after an initial spill.
After an even 15 minutes Ipswich started to turn the screw on the visitors and control the flow of the game.
Just after the hour mark, Sheehan made his first change of the game, replacing Ruby Doe with Summer Hughes with Leah Mitchell stepping up to join Kyra Robertson in defensive midfield.
Four minutes later, Robertson, who had been dictating play from the middle of the park all game, outmuscled several Cardiff players before threading through Gunning-Williams, whose shot was deflected wide.
On 72 O’Brien made a superb run to create an excellent crossing opportunity, but there were no blue shirts in the box to capitalise.
But two minutes later, Town levelled the game. Barker drove down the right-hand side and put in a dangerous cross-shot, which beat the keeper.
Soon after, Meollo made a vitally important save by clawing the ball off the line with the follow-up shot blazed over.
In the 78th minute, another superb Barker cross found Thomas on the six-yard line but her shot was straight at O’Sullivan.
Two minutes later Ipswich took the lead, Peskett cutting the ball back to O’Brien in the box to slam home for 3-2.
Town dominated possession once in front and the visitors saw very little of the ball and on 90 minutes O’Brien wrapped up the game by completing her hat-trick, latching onto a through ball before calmly placing it past O’Sullivan and into the back of the net to make it 4-2 to the home side.
Three minutes into injury time, Thomas almost made it five, seeing her headed effort from a Peskett cross cleared off the line.
In the final minute of added time the Dragons were reduced to 10 players, Caitlin Williams receiving a straight red for cynically chopping down Gunning-Williams as she was through on goal. The resulting free-kick, the last touch of the game, went just wide.
The Tractor Girls were clearly the better side from the off and were unfortunate to be two goals behind from Cardiff counter-attacks with Meollo’s positioning at fault for Sargent’s second goal.
The team showed incredible resilience, however, pulling a goal back prior to the break before going on to comprehensively complete the comeback in the second half to be deserved winners.
Ipswich Town Women will be back at the AGL Arena for a final time this season on 5th May, hosting Billericay Town for the league season closer.
Town: Meollo, Mitchell, Boswell, Williams, Barker, Robertson, O’Brien, Gunning-Williams, Doe (Hughes 61), Peskett, Thomas. Unused: Hartley, King. Attendance: 604.