Ipswich Town Women play their first game at their new home, Colchester United’s Jobserve Community Stadium, on Sunday afternoon when Nottingham Forest visit in WSL2 (KO 2pm).
Joe Sheehan’s side will be looking to bounce back from last week’s opening-day 4-0 defeat at Southampton as they begin a new chapter at a new ground, their elevation to the second tier having forced a move away from their long-time home, the Martello Ground in Felixstowe. More than 1,000 tickets have been sold ahead of the game.
"An exciting occasion, a new home for us and an exciting journey continues now at this new home,” Sheehan said.
"It’s a great pitch, it’s got more than 10,000 seats and we’re hoping to create many more memories and experiences very similar to Felixstowe over the foreseeable future.
"I think we’ve developed a really strong core of supporters that will be there every week home and away.
"Felixstowe had its different feel to it with regards to it being close to the waterfront, it had a sweetshop and many appealing things to fans.
"But equally now there’s also opportunity at Colchester and where that is situated it might be more acceptable to other supporters that perhaps couldn’t come and watch us previously.
"An important step for us to change because of the league we are now in and we’re hoping that we continue to build on the crowds. I’m sure that will be very much helped by how well we perform and the games we win as well as how well we can play.
"We’ll do everything we can over the course of the season to perform well, to win games and continue to attract supporters.”
Reflecting on last week’s chastening result at Southampton, he admitted: "It was a bit of a check for us really, a bit of an important check of where we’re at and what we need to improve on. We know that we have to perform really, really well all game, week in, week out to give ourselves a chance of winning games. That probably reiterated that.
"But we also had seven playing their first minutes at the level that started, so they will only be better for the experience. We know we will continue to grow as a team over the course of the season.
"The margin for error is really small and you’ve also got to be really strong at set plays and we were disappointed to concede three goals from set plays and we must improve that.”
Like the Blues, Forest are newly promoted to the second tier having won the FAWNL North last season, finishing three points ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Last week they were beaten 2-1 at home by Newcastle United.
"A strong team, really well backed, they’ll be one of the top teams in our division, I think. They will come into our division and will hope to get out of it again,” Sheehan continued.
"They’ve recruited a calibre of player which will support that as well. I think they’ve brought in some brilliant players, I watched them play against Newcastle and they gave an incredible account of themselves and they will only improve as well.
"We know we’re going to play a really tough team that have got a lot of threat, have got some really exciting players, but we’re excited for the challenge, we’ll embrace it, are looking forward to meeting them and competing against them in our first home game.
"I think it will be a different type of game to last week, a different type of team but one which will be very, very good.”
Sheehan says there were a few bumps and bruises following last week’s match and that a couple of unnamed players could miss out on Sunday.
"I think there were a few knocks from the weekend so we’ve had to manage and modify and some have not taken part throughout the week, I’m not sure whether that will impact selection or not,” he said.
"There were a few that we had to check in with on Monday that had to come in for some assessment. We’ve had mixed training numbers throughout the week but we’re hoping to have as many available as possible but there might be one or two that do miss out from the game last Sunday, but other than that it will be unchanged.”