Ipswich Town Women remain unbeaten in all competitions during 2024/25 but were held at home for the first time this season, registering only their second draw and first goalless encounter, by promotion rivals Watford in front of another bumper crowd at the Martello Ground in Felixstowe this afternoon.
Town manager Joe Sheehan made several changes to the cup side that had triumphed over Exeter City in Devon the previous weekend, Natalia Negri returning between the sticks and Evie Williams, Summer Hughes, Eloise King, Issy Bryant and Ella Rutherford all dropping to the bench for Leah Mitchell, Maria Boswell, Charlotte Fleming, Lucy O’Brien and Shauna Guyatt.
Sophie Peskett also returned to the squad and the starting line up in place of Kyra Robertson, who was not named in the matchday squad, and Natasha Thomas began the game in place of Issy Fisher, who had joined up with England U17s for their World Cup campaign.
Town started brightly, winning an early free-kick on the edge of the Watford box in the first minute.
On six, Town had a corner, Guyatt swinging the ball in towards Thomas, only for the striker to see her header blocked.
Four minutes later, Ipswich had another corner, Guyatt again putting the ball into a dangerous area. he ball was initially cleared before Town won another free-kick near Watford’s area, Angela Addison beating the wall but putting the ball just over.
Watford had their first corner of the game on 15 with Coral Haines’s effort spilled by Negri, before she was eventually able to drop onto the ball after a goalmouth scramble.
Two minutes later, Town were back on the attack, Guyatt teeing up Peskett for a shot from distance, which went wide. A minute later Peskett squared the ball to Guyatt, whose close-range effort was well stopped by Golden Girls keeper Maria O’Sullivan.
On 23, Watford had a dangerous free-kick just outside the Town box, but Haines could only fire over.
Soon after, Flo Fyfe was able to chip Negri but Ipswich skipper Boswell was back to tidy up, before the referee stopped the game for a drop ball after touching the ball as Town tried to clear.
In the 31st minute, a Watford player was down in the box, but vociferous penalty appeals were waved away by the referee.
The first half, relatively even but with Town having the better chances, petered out with an Ipswich free-kick from distance into the box on 33, followed by the visitors having a similar effort on 38 well held by Negri.
The second half was a tight encounter with Watford compact and looking to stifle Town’s creativity on their right-hand side.
On 51 Guyatt was able to feed the ball to Thomas in the box, but her shot was blocked at feet. A few minutes later, Guyatt then broke from midfield to shoot but her effort went over the bar.
As the game reached the hour mark, Sheehan made his only substitution of the game, replacing Addison with Rutherford.
On 64, a Watford effort on goal went straight to Negri, who was able to easily hold the ball. Five minutes later Town had another corner kick, which sailed across the box with no Blues player able to connect.
With ten minutes to play, Ipswich picked up their efforts to find a winner, Guyatt playing in Rutherford on the left from where she attempted to cut the ball back across the box from the touchline, only to see her effort easily held by O’Sullivan before the assistant referee raised their flag, adjudging that the ball had gone out of play before Rutherford had played it.
On 85 Guyatt let fly from distance, forcing O’Sullivan to push the ball out for a corner, which only managed to find the side netting. O’Sullivan was then booked for delaying the restart, the Watford keeper having been prolonging her restarts for much of the half.
In the final minute of normal time, Ipswich won another corner, Rutherford playing the ball short to Peskett before O’Sullivan turned her effort wide.
Ipswich then had a succession of further set pieces as the half moved into added time, but with nothing coming from them. Town survived a scare just before the referee blew for full time, Watford crashing a free-kick off the crossbar.
The game was a relatively even contest with Ipswich shading the chances to score but ultimately neither team creating absolute clear-cut opportunities to break the deadlock.
With Oxford United and Hashtag United both winning, Town drop to third place in the table, two points behind the former and five behind the latter, but with two games in hand and a favourable goal difference.
Ipswich Town Women make their third trip of the season to Devon next weekend to take on Plymouth Argyle in the league, before returning to Felixstowe on Sunday 27th October to face MK Dons.
Town: Negri, Mitchell, Boswell, Wearing, Barker, Fleming, O’Brien, Peskett, Guyatt, Addison (Rutherford 60), Fisher. Unused: Hartley, Hughes, Williams, King, Bryan. Att: 881.
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