Ipswich Town Women continued their preparations for the 2024/25 season with a home friendly against Championship side London City Lionesses, losing 3-0 in a testing encounter which saw the home side prove a stern challenge for the visitors.
Town manager Joe Sheehan made three changes from the side that had beaten Bournemouth last weekend, with Natalia Negri replacing Laura Hartley between the sticks and Sophie Peskett and Summer Hughes coming in for Issy Bryant and Eloise King in the outfield. An unnamed trialist was also named on the bench.
The visitors started the game brightly, pushing high into Ipswich’s half and dominating possession with Town content to sit deep and look to break on the counter.
After only two minutes, the Lionesses flashed a dangerous ball in the box which their onrushing attacker couldn’t quite meet, the home side getting a goal kick.
Ipswich looked dangerous on the break, however, and on nine Town striker Natasha Thomas was able to pick out Peskett in the right-hand channel, who was able to stand up strong before finding Shauna Guyatt, the new signing, able to get the ball into the box but not find any blue shirts.
A few minutes later, Peskett made another of her familiar charging runs down the right and was almost able to pick out Guyatt in a promising position.
Momentum then shifted back to the away side, who had a succession of attacks which new keeper Negri was more than equal to. On 18, London City had the ball in the back of the net, but the assistant referee had already raised his flag for offside.
Not long after, Ipswich had a free-kick just outside the Lionesses’ area, Town skipper floating the ball towards Leah Mitchell, who couldn’t quite connect her head with the ball, before the half-chance was eventually cleared.
The away side were almost immediately at the other end but Negri again pulled off a good save to deny them, before Angela Addison was able to latch on to Mitchell’s clearance and shoot straight at the keeper.
On 25, a mistake from Mitchell on the ball in the Town area gifted London City a shot on goal but again, Negri was quick to react to keep the ball out of the net.
Three minutes later, a neat passage of the play from the visitors created another golden chance, but the ball was blazed over from six yards out.
Town ended the half strongly, forcing London City into a defensive posture for the remainder of the period and ending the half with Peskett forcing a diving save from Lionesses goalkeeper Grace Maloney.
The Blues made one change at the break with Laura Hartley replacing Negri in goal and London City Lionesses operating rolling substitutes for the remainder of the game.
The second half started slowly but after eight minutes, the Lionesses opened their account. Town did well to clear an attacking corner, however, the ball fell to Ruesha Littlejohn on the edge of the area and the Republic of Ireland international was able to expertly bend the ball around the pack of blue shirts in the box and into the top-left corner, well out of the reach of a diving Hartley.
Ipswich reacted well to going behind and on 57 Guyatt won the ball on the left and with some neat work with Addison was able to work the ball into the Lionesses’ box, only to see Addison lose the ball just before she was able to get her shot away.
The pace of the game slowed after the visitors took the lead, the Championship outfit content to keep the ball and slow down the play after a frenetic first half.
On 70 Town were forced into a further change after Maria Boswell went down injured and had to be helped off the pitch, replaced in defence by Evie Williams.
Eight minutes later, Sheehan made a double change with Hughes and Peskett being replaced by the unnamed trialist and Bryant.
Three minutes later, the Lionesses doubled their lead. An initial shot from distance was blocked by Megan Wearing, the ball looping up into the air before falling back into the box with Charlène Meyong the quickest to react and poke the loose ball home. On 86 the visitors were in on goal again but could only shoot straight at Hartley.
With a minute of normal time remaining Town broke from their own half and eventually won a corner, which Maloney also spilled before eventually holding.
Two minutes later, Guyatt was teed up just outside the box but could only shoot over with Town’s trialist doing similar moments later.
Five minutes into time added on, with the game winding up, the visitors made it three after Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah was allowed to shoot from distance, her shot curling into the top corner, the referee bringing a halt to the game not long after the restart.
On the whole, the scoreline somewhat flattered London City Lionesses as Town were more than a match for the Championship side, particularly in the first half where the momentum swung between the two teams repeatedly.
In the end, however, the quality of the visiting team won out and, having taken an early lead in the second half, they were content to keep the ball and slow down the pace of the game.
Several of this summer’s new signings stood out. Negri played a key part in keeping the scoreline at 0-0 for the first half and Addison and Guyatt provided attacking outlets in the channels, the latter appearing to already have developed a good understanding with Peskett, who put in another superb performance in a Town shirt.
Ipswich Town Women complete their preparations for the new season next weekend with a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers, before kicking off their 2024/25 FAWNL Southern Premier Division campaign with a trip to recent rivals Oxford United on Sunday 18th August.
Town: Negri (Hartley 46), Barker, Boswell (Williams 70), Wearing, Hughes (Trialist 78), Mitchell, Garrad, Peskett (Bryant 78), Guyatt, Addison, Thomas. Unused sub: Meollo.