Ipswich Town Women’s manager Joe Sheehan says this afternoon’s showpiece Portman Road fixture against Plymouth Argyle will have an edge with both the Blues and Pilgrims needing to take something from the match (KO 2pm).

Sheehan’s side go into the game second in the FAWNL Southern Premier Division, three points behind Hashtag United but with two games in hand on the Essex side. The division’s winners will be promoted to the Women’s Championship.

Plymouth, meanwhile, are second-bottom of the table with two teams relegated from the division, one point off Billericay a place ahead of them.

“I think it makes it a really exciting spectacle for supporters, knowing that Plymouth will need to pick up points to try and stay in the division and we have our own situation to deal with,” Sheehan said.

“It does give it a little edge. But that hasn’t actually crossed my mind too much, supporters might look at league tables and think that this game’s got a little bit more on it than perhaps it could have.

“But that doesn’t change my thinking in terms of preparing for the game, knowing what they might have at stake in comparison to us, it’s just about really focusing on what we can do.”

Sheehan says he’s approaching the game in much the same manner as last week’s vital 2-0 win away against Gwalia United in Cardiff.

“Similar to last Sunday,” he said. “We’re very focused internally. We’re very focused on being really good every day and that’s something we’ve stressed since we got beat [1-0 at Hashtag] a couple of weeks ago, it’s been galvanised. It was about coming back into our training environment and just trying to be really good every day.

“Maximising the opportunities we have and we feel that we have individually, staff and players.

“If we can be really good every single day, we can prepare and reflect and review games as we have and we’ve got lots of clarity going into our games and there’s a real togetherness, then we have a really good chance of performing well.

“And as a consequence of performing well, you have a really good chance of winning the game.

“We obviously appreciate that lots of supporters will be coming and hoping to see us win on Sunday but we’re not really distracted too much by that, we’re completely detached from the outcome of games and just focusing on the day-to-day, getting things right day to day.

“It’s all we have done, really. It’s definitely something we’ve committed to and really doubled down on in terms of our focus and, hopefully, that will enable us to perform really well this Sunday.”

Sheehan says last year’s first ever women’s league match at Portman Road, when the Blues beat Chatham 5-0, was staged as near as possible like a men’s first-team home game and the same will be the case on Sunday.

“It was important,” he reflected. “I wasn’t surprised because I know this club has always been brilliant with us and to know that it operated like a men’s matchday with the same staff, with the same stands open, the same coach arrival, the same people doing the jobs they normally do, that was a huge testament to this football club because that’s unusual.

“But it doesn’t surprise me because I know this football club has always been brilliant with its women’s team, as it is with its academy, with its foundation and with its first team.

“It was incredibly important and I think it just made that occasion so much more special and that’s why it’s no surprise why so many people turned up to watch the game.”

Last year, 10,173 fans watched the Chatham match with an even bigger attendance anticipated this weekend with 9,000 tickets already sold.

Sheehan believes his players should have no problem playing in front of such a big crowd.

“We obviously experienced it last year with a really good number,” he said. “There are plenty of players who will have experienced playing at this stadium in front of what was 10,000.

“We’ve also got a lot of players who have played in the league above, who have won the division in the league above that have played in big games, not necessarily massive crowds like that, but certainly big games.

“You never really know, but what we do know is we have have experienced it, we’ve got players who have played in the league above that have won the division.

“We’ve got a really good group that are together that prepare really well, that are incredibly focused and I’m sure everybody will deal with the occasion differently but for us we’ll do everything in our control to prepare them to perform and then it will be up to us to try and embrace that occasion and the challenge and perform as best as we can.”

The visitors are no strangers to playing in their club’s main stadium where they have hosted the Blues on a couple of occasions.

“They’re a team that have played quite a lot at Home Park in recent years, I think they’ve played more this season than they had previously,” Sheehan continued.

“And we always seem to have played Plymouth at Home Park, barring the odd game, so it’s something they’re used to doing with us at their stadium. It’s a little bit different them coming here.

“In some ways it is quite nice it is them because they’ve always been so hospitable staff have been great and it’s been a really good club to play against when we have visited them, so it’s quite fitting that they’re the club that gets to come and play us here this season.”

In this season’s game at Home Park, the Blues ran out 5-1 winners, although with the game having been level at 1-1 at half-time.


Asked whether there are lessons from that match which he can take into Sunday’s game, Sheehan said: “I learnt we didn’t start great! It was a disappointing half for us. I felt as a team that we could really after them and I don’t think we really gave a solid account of ourselves, but I was pleased with the response in the second half.

“They’re a team who have had a little bit of change of late. They’ve been an established team in this division, who perhaps haven’t always finished as high as they would have liked, but I think they’ve had some reasonably good performances of late.

“They had a really competitive derby with Exeter last week that finished 1-0 to Exeter, which was a really late goal and we know how difficult Exeter are to play against. So to take Exeter that far and have some really good opportunities to win the game themselves shows where they can be at.

“A difficult result for them last weekend at Watford [losing 5-0], but we know Watford are a really solid team.

“A team from whom you’re not always sure what you’re going to get. Certainly a team that are established and have played in stadiums before and will compete, so it’s not a given that we’re going to perform and win this game.

“We’re going to have work really hard for it because we know they’re a team that can really dig in and take it all the way to the end if it needs to.”

On the injury front, Sheehan, speaking on Tuesday, says there are a couple of players whose involvement is in question.

“We’ve got Angela Addison, who we didn’t think would be out too long but is a little bit behind where we thought she would be. She hasn’t been in the last couple of squads,” he said.

“We’re hoping she’s not too far away but I’m unsure whether she’ll return for this weekend.

“Shauna [Guyatt] had to come off in the first half on Sunday in Cardiff following a tackle. She tried to continue and wasn’t able to, so she’s someone who will need to be assessed today, so there is a possibility that she may not be available to us, but we’ll see. Other than that, everyone else is in pretty good condition.”

Skipper Maria Boswell, who suffered a knee injury in the game against the Tags, and Charlotte Fleming, who is out for the season with an ACL injury, definitely miss out, but Sheehan says they will play a part on the day, as sidelined players have tended to do over the course of the season.

“In some capacity, I’m sure,” he said. “I think we’ve been quite lucky that a lot of our games we’ve had the full squad attend, whether that was Oxford on the opening day when I think we had four, five or six players out on the side that were in the dressing room pre-match, back in at half-time, were on the pitch at full-time.

“That just epitomises the unity and how determined the group are to drive each other on, whether you’re playing, whether you’re in the squad or whether your not.

“Charlotte’s been really good at that recently, despite the challenges that she will constantly face throughout her week with good days and bad days with her injury.

“The fact that she’s always present when we need her and she’s so vocal and giving the team her opinions and observations is so valuable to us.

“And I’m sure someone like Maria will add that kind of value going into this week and the weekend.”

Asked whether Boswell will play any part in the latter stages of the season, he added: “Hopefully. I don’t think we’ll put too much pressure on that being achievable. If naturally her recovery allows her to be involved in one of the last two games or the last game, then that would be great, but it’s not something we’re trying to rush through.

“But if naturally it does look like it’s achievable, then it would be great to have her available for our last two games, or at least our last one.”

At last year’s match Sheehan’s then eight-month-old daughter Halle was the mascot led onto the pitch by Boswell ahead of kick-off.

“She’ll be in and around, we’re not quite sure who’s going to take her out,” Sheehan said. “If it’s not a player then perhaps she’ll walk out with me, last at the back.

“She’ll be in and around us. We’re working on it. She likes to run off at the moment, so not sure if there’s potentially any pyro or flares that might be quite a danger with a two-year-old running around the pitch!”

Tickets for Sunday’s match are available here.

TWTD/Matchday Images/ITFC

MK1 added 09:57 - Mar 23 Didn't know this was on at Portman Road. Have a prior engagement now, otherwise would have taken a look. Good luck Ladies, sure you will smash it.
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