Ipswich Town Women were beaten 5-1 by WSL side Leicester City in their opening Subway Women’s League Cup group game at Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium this evening.
Town boss Joe Sheehan made six changes from the team which drew 0-0 at Charlton in WSL2 on Sunday.
The Blues took the lead against the top flight side in the 39th minute through Ruby Seaby but the Foxes levelled just before the break via Shannon O’Brien.
Two minutes after the restart, the WSL side took the lead through Asmita Ale, then Rosella Ayane made it 3-1 on 53.
Just after the hour, Blues midfielder Charlotte Fleming came off the bench to make her first appearance since suffering an ACL injury in November last year.
On 67, Grace Neville and Summer Hughes made way for Leah Mitchell and Bethan Roe, then in the 76th minute Shauna Guyatt made her return from her MCL injury for Blues goalscorer Seaby.
Two minutes later, Leicester added their fourth through Sammy Kaczmar, then in the 84th minute Jutta Rantala made it 5-1 to complete the scoring.
In this evening’s other game in the group, London City Lionesses won 2-1 away at Crystal Palace.
Town: Hartley, Neville (Mitchell 67), Wearing, Peake, Hughes (Roe 67), Robertson (Fleming 61), Bonwick, Seaby (Guyatt 76), Dear (Peskett 46), Earl, Thomas. Unused: Negri, Boswell, Dean.