Ipswich Town Women kicked off their pre-season campaign against FAWNL Northern Premier Division club Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Martello Ground, Felixstowe this afternoon, but fell to a 4-1 defeat at their former home ground.

With the Blues having made a significant number of signings over the summer following promotion to the WSL2 in April, manager Joe Sheehan named a much-changed side from the one that clinched the title against Cheltenham Town at the end of last season.

Town’s first half XI consisted of 2024/25 Golden Glove winner Natalia Negri in goal with Leah Mitchell, Maria Boswell, returning player Paige Peake and fellow new signing Beth Roe making up the defence.

The midfield featured Ruby Doe, who came back to the club permanently this summer following two loan spells, and Kyra Robertson as the defensive pairing, with an unnamed trialist in the number 10 role. A second unnamed trialist also started in attack, alongside Sophie Peskett and club-record-goalscorer Natasha Thomas.

Ipswich started brightly and took the lead after only four minutes from a corner, Roe’s set-piece delivery finding Doe, who was able to head home from close range.

The lead didn’t last long, however, with Wolves scoring a near identical headed goal from their own corner only two minutes later.

The visitors continued to push the home side, who, despite the early goal, were struggling to find their rhythm.

Wolves shot wide on eight and a few minutes later Peake was called into action to snuff out a Midlanders’ counter-attack, putting her foot through the ball to clear the danger.

On 17, the visitors took the lead, stroking home after Town skipper Maria Boswell was caught sleeping in defence.

Two minutes later, Wolves almost added a third from a headed effort after a long ball into the box, with Negri at full stretch to push the effort around the post for a corner.

In the 26th minute, Town were on the attack, the ball sprayed out to one of the trialists on the right of the attack, who then lofted the ball towards the far post, her effort going just wide. Wolves were back down the other end of the pitch almost immediately, with a distance shot going straight to Negri.

The Blues won another corner on 33, which was delivered by Roe to the back post, but Leah Mitchell could only tap wide after being well-marked for the set piece.

On 37, Wolves delivered another dangerous ball into the box but Negri was quick off her line to claim it.

The Black Country side dominated possession as the half came to a close, winning another corner which Ipswich had some difficulty clearing.

In the last minute, however, Town came close to levelling. A long clearance from Negri found its way to Thomas, who was able to hold the ball up with her back to goal before bringing Roe into play. The full-back lashed a shot towards goal from distance which whistled just wide of the top right corner, the referee signalling the end of the period soon after the restart.

Sheehan made eight changes at the break with only Peake, Roe, Robertson and Peskett remaining on the pitch. Laura Hartley took over between the sticks with Megan Wearing joining Peake in the heart of defence and new signing Grace Neville, a WSL2 winner with London City Lionesses last season, assuming duties at right-back.

Youngster Kaci-Jai Bonwick joined Robertson in defensive midfield and Lucy O’Brien came into the number 10 role. Peskett switched to the right of the attack with Summer Hughes out on the left and new addition Rianna Dean in the striker’s role.

Wolves added a third soon after the restart, carving open the Ipswich defence from the kick-off and catching Hartley in no-man’s land to slam home.

Despite conceding quickly, Town looked more cohesive after the changes and pushed forward on several occasions, putting in dangerous balls from both flanks but failing to find the target.

On 57, Sheehan made his first in-play substitution with Sophie Baigent, whose signing from last season’s promotion rivals Hashtag United had been announced earlier in the day, replacing Robertson in midfield.

On the hour mark Wolves had a succession of corners but Hartley was adjudged to have been fouled in the box for the second set piece.

Sheehan made further changes in the 67th minute, replacing Peake, Peskett and Roe with three further trialists. A minute later, Wolves made it 4-1, capitalising on Wearing losing her footing in the box to roll home from six yards out.

As the game moved into its final quarter of an hour, Town managed to break into the visitors’ box through O’Brien, but her shot was well blocked by the Wolves defence.

A minute later, Dean won the ball just outside the box and looked to capitalise, but again was well marshalled by the Wolves backline.

The game petered out over the last quarter of an hour, neither side looking to push forward in the dying stages of the match.

Two minutes into added time Town had one last foray after Dean was fouled outside the box, but O’Brien’s free-kick was headed wide with the referee immediately blowing for full time before the game could be restarted.

It was a tough afternoon for the Blues, who despite gaining the early lead struggled against a resilient and determined opposition who had pushed Nottingham Forest all the way for the Northern Premier title last season.

As could be expected, with a number of new signings and trialists involved the home side look disjointed for large periods of the game.

However, there were certainly some positive signs in the commanding defensive presence of Peake, and Roe was mobile up and down her flank and able to put in good balls both in-play and from set pieces. Neville also looked sharp when brought into play, and Bonwick continued the impressive form she had displayed from the bench against Cheltenham at the end of last season.

Rianna Dean also looked confident in the striker role and able to hold up play well and provide a physical threat.

“It was a good workout for us,” manager Sheehan told the club site afterwards. “We’re still embedding a few new signings into the group and had around six of our under 21s featuring for us as well. 

“We recognise we played a Wolves team who are about four or five games into their pre-season schedule, whereas this game was our first proper test of 2025/26.

“The important part is that we were able to get a good bank of minutes into everybody and we’re still in the early stages of building the connections between the players. 

“I’m not particularly happy with the goals we conceded but the good thing for us was that our players could develop their conditioning and their relationships with each other.”

Ipswich Town Women continue their pre-season back at the Martello Ground on 17th August against Aston Villa U21s, with Felixstowe and Walton United opening the clubhouse early for fans to watch the men’s team take on Southampton on Sky Sports in the lunchtime Championship kick-off.

Starting XI: Negri (Hartley 46), Mitchell (Neville 46), Boswell (Wearing 46), Peake (Trialist C 67), Roe (Trialist D 67), Robertson (Baigent 57), Doe (Bonwick 46), Trialist A (O’Brien 46), Trialist B (Hughes 46), Peskett (Trialist E 67), Thomas (Dean 46). Att: 654.

Photo: ITFC/Matchday Images

Tampa_Florida_Blue added 20:03 - Aug 3 I say that was a good test to figure out everyone playing better opposition than they have been use to. I liked that our defense was made to work very hard, something they are not use to. It gives everyone an idea of how much harder they need to dig in. Sounded like a good work out to me
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blues1 added 20:58 - Aug 3 Tampa Florida Blue. Wolves play at the same level we did last season , so not better opposition. Just further into their preseason ,so giving them an advantage. .
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kesblue87 added 21:35 - Aug 3 Played well in patches but could definitely tell there were some new inexperienced faces in there yet to properly embed. Wolves looked decent and were well up for it.
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