Ipswich Town Women kick off their season this afternoon when they take on Oxford United at Court Place Farm (KO 2pm), and manager Joe Sheehan is ready for what he is hoping will be a positive season ahead.
The Town Women will be going into their fourth year in the FAWNL Southern Premier Division, the third tier of the women’s game, with another Championship promotion push firmly the aim.
Town finished last season in a disappointing fourth place, having missed out on the title to Watford on goal difference the season before.
This year’s campaign gets underway this weekend away to the U’s, before the first home match of the season will see Hashtag United visit the newly-named Martello Ground in Felixstowe next weekend.
Both sides are expected to be towards the top end of the table, with Sheehan admitting the tough opening fixtures are something to embrace rather than fear.
"We know we’ve got to play everyone twice so we don’t look too much into who we would rather play,” he said.
"On paper it doesn’t look like the easiest of starts, but I think it adds an exciting challenge because they are teams we expect to be competitive all season and be up there.
"We face them both really early and we’ll be as ready as can be and hopefully we can put in a really good performance and come away with a win.
"We’re really excited. You can feel the attitude shift from the last five weeks to this week where we know that there’s points on the line.
"It means that we’re really excited to get the campaign up and running and fight for three points every week and hopefully have a really positive season.”
The Tractor Girls have made seven signings so far this summer, with Angela Addison, Grace Garrad, Shauna Guyatt, Charlotte Fleming, Ella Rutherford, Natalia Negri and Isabella Fisher all joining up with the existing Blues squad.
All of the new additions came early and all have Championship experience or above as Town look to reach the second tier for the first time in their history, something Sheehan knows could be key.
He said: "We’ve really enjoyed having them in, they all bring a unique skill set. Pretty much all of them have played at a really good level and still of an exciting age with a lot of potential.
"Certainly, their experiences of playing in the Championship and the Super League for Ella in particular will be invaluable for us. They’ve complemented our existing squad really well.
"We didn’t have the best of seasons last year but what it did enable us to do is to really look at recruitment a little bit earlier and identify players that we think would add to our group.
That meant we were able to get some in pretty early, which always helps when we can get a full pre-season in them.”
Reflecting on pre-season, which included a testing match against Championship promotion hopefuls London City Lionesses, Sheehan says it was a good opportunity to integrate the new arrivals into the squad.
"It’s been relatively okay,” he said on the overall performances in pre-season. "We’ve had some new players that we’ve tried to settle into the group. A good range of fixtures that all posed their own different challenges, but lots of good outcomes that hopefully should set us up nicely for the season ahead.
"We always try and get a nice blend of local teams that are a bit lower down the pyramid and then work our way up to teams that are going to pose us physical tests and tactical challenges. Hopefully we can take lots of learnings from that.”
Despite the underwhelming season last campaign, one of the highlights was the opportunity to play a league fixture at Portman Road for the first time when the Tractor Girls beat Chatham Town 5-0 in front of more than 10,000 supporters.
On the prospect of another home stadium game this season, Sheehan added: "It’s not a conversation I have had, but the success of it should hopefully mean that it could be something we can experience again because it was a great occasion.
"When it is spoken about, it would be another exciting opportunity for us to play there again.”
Town’s first stadium match this season will be the East Anglian derby against rivals Norwich City at Carrow Road on August 29th after being drawn against the Canaries in the FAWNL Cup.