Ipswich Town Women overcame a potential Halloween Home Park haunting to make it 10 straight wins at the start of their league campaign after comfortably disposing of Plymouth Argyle 5-0 in the second game of the weekend double-header.

The Town juggernaut continues to steam forwards, but they were made to work hard by a stubborn home defence with Paige Peake scoring the only goal of the first half from the penalty spot.

It was the same pattern after the break with Town eventually pulling clear thanks to goals from Zoe Barratt, Natasha Thomas, Maddie Biggs and Lucy O’Brien.

Sarah Brasero-Carreira had the first opening inside 10 minutes but her stabbed shot was blocked by the keeper before Peake saw a header glance well wide from an Abbie Lafayette free-kick.

Ipswich had to wait until the half hour before taking the lead when O’Brien was bundled over in the area and Peake hammered down the middle from the spot to give the visitors the lead.

Buoyed by the goal, they almost made it two straight after when a mishit Brasero-Carreira cross looped over the goalkeeper and hit the inside of the far post before being cleared off the line.

Town keeper Sarah Quantrill had been a relative bystander during the first half, but she was called into action right on half-time when Zoe Cunningham cut in and drove straight at her for the home side’s first shot at goal.

The Tractor Girls continued to dominate after the break and played at a higher tempo with chances coming more freely, Barratt adding the second on the hour mark, tapping in from a Kyra Robertson cross.

Thomas made her bow midway through the second half and got herself onto the scoresheet after showing her predatory skills to tap home from a Lafayette free-kick.

Biggs made it 4-0 with a sublime chip in the 83rd minute after a brilliant ball from Robertson found her in space inside the box.
O’Brien then added the cherry on the cake in stoppage time after winning yet another penalty with a driving run and stepping up herself to grab a deserved goal.

Ipswich remain top of the table and go nine points clear of rivals Southampton, although having played three more games than the Saints, whose fixture at Bridgwater United scheduled for this afternoon was postponed.

Town: Quantrill, Boswell (Hughes 70), Peake, Egan, Lafayette, Horwood (c), Robertson, King (Hubbard 78) , O’Brien, Brasero-Carreira (Thomas 62), Barratt (Biggs 78). Unused: Jackson. Att: 624.

Photo: Ross Halls

Westy added 16:46 - Oct 31 Well done - sounds like a comfortable win. Not such a bad weekend after all.
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ronnyd added 17:09 - Oct 31 That league looks good, apart from lady saints that is. But they've still got to win them though.
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ParisBlue added 17:29 - Oct 31 You've got to hope that Pompey (being a local derby) or Bridgwater (who appear to be the 3rd best team and we only just beat last week) can do the girls a favour. Otherwise it'll come down to the 2 games against Saints, essentially a 2-legged cup game which we will need to win on aggregate given Saints goal difference superiority My hunch given their results thus far is Saints might be a better team, but over 2 games who knows - we'd need a win and a draw. We play Saints in the cup next week and then in the league 2 weeks later. I imagine neither side will be taking next weekend too seriously as neither manager will want to show their hand ahead of the league game. November is a big month for both the men's and the women's teams.

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runningout added 10:45 - Nov 1 Wouldn't bother about how other clubs do. Keep performing well and we are fine and dandy
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SpiritOfJohn added 11:34 - Nov 1 Looking at that league table is it right that only one team can get promoted, but four teams will get relegated? If the season continues the way it has started it will be a travesty if both Ipswich and Southampton don't get promoted, as they look too good for this level.
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Razor added 10:40 - Nov 2 What a fantastic performance by the girls----the match was played in a howling gale force wind and our fitness and strength told in the end with obviosly a dash of skill as well!! There are one or two whippets up front----let them sniff the ball and they are off and Plymouth just could not handle it and it is why we got two pens both expertly converted.
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