Ipswich Town Women face Durham at Maiden Castle Sports Park this afternoon (KO midday, live on YouTube) aiming to arrest a worrying run of seven consecutive defeats in all competitions. Five points adrift at the bottom of WSL2, the Blues are in danger of losing touch with their nearest rivals in the fight to stay in the division.
Head coach Joe Sheehan admitted that he hoped to be in a better position as they approach the halfway point in the league.
"We aren’t content with where we’re at,” he told TWTD. "We don’t want to be in this position, we want to have more points on the board.
"Ultimately, we have to remain optimistic, we have to keep working hard. We have to keep helping the players grow and improve. It probably the kind of environment we try and create.”
After storming to promotion from the FA Women's National League South last season winning 17 matches out of 22 and conceding just 10 goals, Ipswich Town Women have lost their last five league games letting in 20 goals during that period.
This followed a positive pair of results at the end of September when the Blues picked up their first four points of the campaign.
Sheehan said: "We’re realistic enough to know we’re not going to win as many games as we did last year.
"I think we need a little bit of perspective - we had a good point at Charlton, we beat Portsmouth here. We didn’t start great at Sheffield United but managed to get ourselves back in the game before we had a player sent off.
"Then I think we played the three best teams in the division in Birmingham here, Newcastle here and Bristol City away. So, three really tough games.
"We played Palace here last month and gave a good account of ourselves, but again they’ve got players that were playing in the top division last year that probably should be in a better position than they are.
"So, four really tough games in a row. I think that’s also important to recognise. That’s obviously the fixtures and the hand that we’re dealt but, a bit of perspective, we’ve played three really good teams in form - Newcastle were not in form, but we knew they'd bounce back from changing their manager - Birmingham, Bristol are in brilliant form, Palace are a really good team.
"It’s kind of a mixture, we’re not content with where we’re at but we have to continue to be optimistic. We review, reflect and plan and work really hard but also understand the fixtures that we’ve had perhaps haven’t been as kind as they could have been.”
A win at Durham would bring Ipswich Town to within two points of the north-east side, who are ninth, but they themselves are on a good run.
In their last four games, Durham have picked up five points, including four against the aforementioned Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, illustrating the depth in what Sheehan believes is the highest quality tier two in women's football history.
"I've not been in the league previously to know, but I do sense it’s probably the best WSL2 in terms of level that there has been. Certainly, if you look at the players playing in it now, the players Newcastle have got, Birmingham have got, even Nottingham Forest came up with us and they've recruited really well.
"I would suggest, it's probably the toughest division and level it’s been, but it’s only my opinion on it.
"I don't think I’ve been too surprised, it’s kind of what we expected. We were hoping we’d have performed better but we also know we’ve got a lot of players that are relatively new to the division and they’re growing every week.”
In two weeks, Ipswich Town's next game is also in the north-east away to Sunderland, another side just above them and fighting to stay in the league. After that comes a winter break and a chance to recruit players in the January transfer window.
Sheehan says he would like to strengthen his squad: "We’ll keep working really hard, we’ll keep trying to develop what we have and hopefully we can add it to in January and continue progressing and hopefully picking up more points.”