Ipswich Town Women’s captain Maria Boswell says today lived up to everything she envisaged it being, the Blues having confirmed the FAWNL Southern Premier Division title and promotion to the Women’s Championship for the first time in their history via an 8-0 thrashing of Cheltenham at the Martello Ground in Felixstowe.
Town were effectively already champions but today’s comprehensive victory in their final match mathematically sealed the title by six points, second-placed Hashtag United having lost their last game 2-0 at Oxford United.
Prior to the match, Boswell, 22, revealed she’d dreamed about lifting the trophy for the past four years and speaking afterwards said it matched her expectations.
"I can’t really put it into words, just over the moon,” she said. "So, so proud of this team, so proud to be part of this club. This day has completely lived up to everything I pictured it to be.”
"This tops it off. I’ve said many times, I’ve been at the club quite a long time, been trying to fight for promotion from tier three for four years now.
"So many lows, narrowly missing out on goal difference one year. It’s been a journey, I’ve loved being a part of it, sometimes not so much, but today makes it all worth it.”
Reflecting on today’s performance and the big win in front of a sell-out crowd of 2,150, Boswell, who made her first start since suffering a knee injury away against the Tags at the start of March, added: "An 8-0 win, some great goals and to sell out at this ground that’s been home for so many years in front of all these fans, it makes it all worth it.”
And the plan for the evening? "Go out and celebrate! We’re going to celebrate here with our families and then get out on the town.”
The club’s top appearance-maker and top scorer, Natasha Thomas, who bagged a final-day hat-trick, similarly saw today as the culmination of four years’ work since promotion from the FAWNL Division One South East, tier four, in the summer of 2021.
"Honestly, it’s been four years where we’ve been really trying to get this done,” the 29-year-old Jamaica international said. "Tier three, it’s fine margins and we knew that, so this season we needed to make sure that it wasn’t going to be those fine margins.
"We’ve done it without it being goal difference as well and we’ve done it as a whole squad, even the players that unfortunately have got injured, they’ve made their mark on the team and I can’t want to get going in the Championship, to be honest.
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"It feels amazing, I think I’ve cried about five times today, but it just shows all the emotions and how much we’ve put into the season and the past seasons as well.
"For us, we’ve going to enjoy it now, enjoy it and then when it’s time, come back to the training ground and get ready for the Championship.”
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