Ipswich Town Women will be looking to cement their position at the top of the FAWNL Southern Premier Division when they host Gwalia United at the Martello Ground, Felixstowe on Sunday (KO 1pm).
The Town Women climbed back to the top of the division last Sunday via their 3-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle in front of 10,807 fans at Portman Road.
While they were doing that, Gwalia were doing them a favour in Cardiff, defeating the Blues’ title rivals Hashtag United 2-0.
Sunday’s match is one of the two Town, who currently head the table by a goal difference of 26, have in hand on the Essex side, who have only two matches remaining.
The Blues could all but confirm the title and promotion to the Women’s Championship for the first time if they beat Gwalia and then win at Watford next Sunday with the Tags not in action until the following weekend.
Manager Joe Sheeran hopes plenty of the 10,807 who were at Portman Road on Sunday will make the trip to the Martello Ground on Sunday.
"Hopefully we’ll get a really good turnout at Felixstowe this weekend,” he told Town TV. "Supporters that hopefully returned from the game last week will come and watch us. Their support will be really important for us and we hope we can put on a good performance.”
Gwalia are eighth in the division but in addition to the victory over Hashtag last week, gave the Blues a stiff test a fortnight ago with Town eventually emerging 2-0 victors via a Sophie Peskett brace.
"It will be a tough game,” Sheeran continued. "We found them a challenging opposition a few weeks ago when we played them, so we know they’re capable of playing really well and providing a lot of real grit and desire to stick around and be difficult to beat and I’m sure this weekend will be no different.
"They’re not an easy team to play against, they’re a team that can compete and, as they proved last week, a team that can pick up really important points when needed.”
Asked what he wants to see from his players in the next few games, Sheeran said: "Just more of the same and keep trying to strive for greater levels.
"We’ve become really good at taking it one day at a time, one game at a time. We try and improve each day, we try and keep performing well, training hard, reflecting well, preparing well and if we can maintain those standards and can keep trying to improve, then we put ourselves in a good position to perform well and try and pick up three more points.”
Town will continued to be without midfielder Shauna Guyatt, who is set to undergo surgery this week, but Sheehan has no new injury concerns.