Ipswich Town Women remain without a win so far this season after losing 1-0 to fellow newly promoted side Nottingham Forest in their first outing at their new home, Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium.

Blues manager Joe Sheehan made one change from the side that began the 4-0 defeat to Southampton at St Mary’s last weekend, the club’s WSL2 debut, with Jenna Dear making her first start for the club in place of Natasha Thomas, who dropped to sub. Laura Hartley, Summer Hughes, Megan Wearing, Ruby Seaby and Maddy Earl completed the bench.

Ruby Doe and Kaci-Jai Bonwick both dropped out of the matchday squad, having been named as substitute last week.

The visitors looked dangerous from the start, forcing a clearance from the Town defence in the first minute.

On three, Sophie Peskett latched on to a loose ball in the opposition half and strode forward to make an attempt on goal, her shot curling over the bar.

Four minutes later, Blues midfielder Kyra Robertson lost the ball in her own half and Rachel Rowe was able to shoot from distance, forcing Town keeper Natalia Negri to tip the ball over the bar. 

Moments later, Peskett was in again down the right flank but her low pass into the box was cleared comfortably.  Soon after, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah had an effort from far out which went straight on Negri.

In the 13th minute, Town won the ball on the halfway line and released Lucy O’Brien on the left, who managed to get past one player before being tackled just outside the Nottingham Forest box.

On 19 Leah Mitchell, playing out of position in central midfield, spied Forest keeper Emily Batty off her line and tried a speculative effort from the centre circle, which was not on target and was collected by the Forest stopper.

A minute later, Town’s blushes were spared by a bad miss from visitors’ forward Deanne Rose. A wayward pass across the Ipswich box from Blues skipper Maria Boswell was intercepted by the Tricky Trees’ number six, who then burst into the box and rounded Negri, before inexplicably putting the ball wide from short range.

On the half-hour mark, Town finally won their first corner of the game. Paige Peake was able to rise to meet Beth Roe’s deep delivery but her headed effort went wide of goal.

Two minutes later, Forest almost opened the scoring, Nahikari Garcia working the ball into the box from the left and rolling the ball across the six-yard line towards Rose, but her effort was a touch heavy and took her teammate away from goal.

On 35, a neat passage of play between Grace Neville and Peskett saw the former put in a dangerous cross which the Forest defence were forced to head backwards to a scrambling Batty.

Soon after, Peskett again pounced onto a loose ball and breezed into space on the right, only to see her shot from wide right go straight into Batty’s hands. With Rianna Dean arriving on the six-yard line, there was perhaps an argument for Peskett to have checked her run and squared the ball to Town’s number nine.

Six minutes before the break, Town won a free-kick on the edge of Forest’s box after Peskett was hauled down before she could get her shot away. Set-piece specialist Peake stepped up but her tame effort failed to get past the red wall.

Ipswich ended the first half strongly and on 41, following a period of pressure, won another free-kick which Boswell was able to put into a dangerous area, although it was eventually cleared away. Forest had the last meaningful effort of the period, Rose shooting over the bar.

Shortly after the restart, the visitors took the lead and it was another goal conceded from a set piece, three of the Saints’ goals having come via that route last week.

A Forest corner on 48 looked destined to be collected in the air by Negri but the ball passed through her hands. Despite an initial clearance, the Reds were able to pump the ball back into the box, where it fell favourably to Garcia three yards out, who easily poked it past the Town keeper.

The home side were rocked by the goal and looked out of sorts. On 51 Rose was able to find Charlie Wellings out wide but her shot was off target. Five minutes later, Roe was forced to head a dangerous cross behind for a corner. 

The away side thought the subsequent set piece had gone in directly at the far post, but instead the referee awarded a free-kick to Town for a foul on Negri.

Forest continued to dictate play and on 64 Rose had another attempt on goal after picking up a cross from the right, but Roe was quickly back to block out for a corner. The first set piece was headed behind by Boswell for another from the opposite side, which then saw Negri win another free-kick just as Boye-Hlorkah headed onto the bar.

Three minutes later, Forest had another corner after Negri had to push Rowe’s effort around the post, the dead ball headed clear before a follow-up shot was put wide.

On 68 Sheehan made a triple change to attempt to swing momentum in Ipswich’s favour, replacing Robertson, Dean and O’Brien with Hughes, Thomas and Earl.

In the 76th minute, Thomas looked to have cleanly won the ball high up the pitch, but was penalised by the referee.

A minute later, Town won a free-kick and goalscorer Garcia was booked for kicking the ball away. 

Soon after, Peskett appeared frustrated as she was adjudged to have committed a foul when winning the ball in the centre circle and was looking to motor forward towards goal.  
On 80, Forest seemed almost certain to double their lead following yet another corner, however, there were multiple last-ditch clearances off the line before the final effort went wide.

Six minutes later, Sheehan made a further change, bringing on Seaby for Dear. On the restart Town had the ball in the Forest box but Roe was robbed of the ball before being able to make an attempt on goal.  Two minutes later Boswell launched the ball forward hoping to find an onrushing Peskett, but Betty was quick to claim the ball.

With one minute of normal time remaining Sheehan replaced Boswell with Wearing, Peake taking the armband.

Town worked desperately to find an equaliser during added on time, but could not find a way through.

Seven minutes into injury time, Tove Almqvist’s name was added to the book for kicking away the ball after conceding a free-kick.

Although a narrower scoreline than last week’s opening day drubbing, similar issues remained for the Blues. Ipswich again struggled with the physicality and skill of their opponent, who strengthened well in the summer, and continued to look a not cohesive unit. Defending was also questionable, especially from set pieces. 

Results elsewhere leave Town in the relegation position after two matches, level on no points with Portsmouth but with an inferior goal difference. 

Town return to league action next Sunday with a trip to the Valley to face WSL2 stalwarts Charlton Athletic, before returning to the Jobserve Community Stadium on Wednesday 24th September to take on Leicester City in their first Women’s League Cup Group D game, which will be the club’s debut in this competition.

Town: Negri, Neville, Boswell (Wearing 89), Peake, Roe, Robertson (Hughes 68), Mitchell, Peskett, Dear (Seaby 86), O’Brien (Earl 68), Dean (Thomas 68). Unused: Hartley. Att: 1,117

Photo: Matchday Images

RobITFC added 18:34 - Sep 14 Forest looked better all over the pitch!
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blues1 added 18:52 - Sep 14 Not looking good for the ladies right now im afraid. If they cant compete with a team who were playing at the same level as us last season, then it doesnt bode well. May only have been 1-0, but could, and probably should have been more. Didnt really lay a finger on them. Really dont get why Ruby Doe not involved. One of our best midfielders last season, hence we re-signed her. Instead we play a defender in that role? And why did we only name 6 substitutes when u can name 9? Only named 7 last week too. Hopefully they can pick up soon tho.

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dyersdream added 18:54 - Sep 14 Looked really poor again today a step to much at moment
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Mark added 19:01 - Sep 14 33% possession today. Only one shot on target so far this season. We knew it would be a big step up to the WSL2, but it does not look like the summer recruitment has been good enough to give our young side the help they need to be competitive at this level. I was hoping we would make some exciting signings and play at Portman Road to make the most of our WSL2 opportunity. To be fair, 1,117 was the highest WSL2 attendance today, although half the 2,150 at Felixstowe for the final game of last season.

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armchaircritic59 added 19:02 - Sep 14 Having seen both the matches so far on YT, I'd say we might have repeated the mistake of the mens team last sesson, and not realised just how big a jump in class it is between the two leagues. Maybe a bit too early to come to concrete conclusions, but the early warning signs are there.
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Broadbent23 added 19:12 - Sep 14 Watch some of the match on YT. Once again our girls are not strong enough to hold off tackles and are short of ideas. At present it is between them and Portsmouth for relegation. Impossible to recruit until January. Let them train with the boys to improve fitness and control techniques. There is still time to prove everyone wrong. COYB girls.
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dirtydingusmagee added 20:41 - Sep 14 was Omari on the bench lol.
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