Ipswich Town Women were beaten 5-1 by WSL side Leicester City in their opening Subway Women’s League Cup group game at Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium this evening.

Town boss Joe Sheehan made six changes from the team which drew 0-0 at Charlton in WSL2 on Sunday.

The Blues took the lead against the top flight side in the 39th minute through Ruby Seaby but the Foxes levelled just before the break via Shannon O’Brien.

Two minutes after the restart, the WSL side took the lead through Asmita Ale, then Rosella Ayane made it 3-1 on 53.

Just after the hour, Blues midfielder Charlotte Fleming came off the bench to make her first appearance since suffering an ACL injury in November last year.

On 67, Grace Neville and Summer Hughes made way for Leah Mitchell and Bethan Roe, then in the 76th minute Shauna Guyatt made her return from her MCL injury for Blues goalscorer Seaby.

Two minutes later, Leicester added their fourth through Sammy Kaczmar, then in the 84th minute Jutta Rantala made it 5-1 to complete the scoring.

“We weren’t sure what to expect coming into the game,” manager Joe Sheehan said afterwards. “It’s a new competition for us and we thought it was important to make some changes.

“I think we had a promising first half and there were lots of really encouraging moments.

“The performance as a whole was pretty good. The second half got away from us a little bit, which is disappointing because I thought we didn’t deserve to get beaten by that scoreline.

“But there are lots of things to be positive about especially Charlotte getting a good bank of minutes after working so hard over nine or ten months and Shauna as well who got her first taste of minutes in six months.”

In this evening’s other game in the group, London City Lionesses won 2-1 away at Crystal Palace.

Town: Hartley, Neville (Mitchell 67), Wearing, Peake, Hughes (Roe 67), Robertson (Fleming 61), Bonwick, Seaby (Guyatt 76), Dear (Peskett 46), Earl, Thomas. Unused: Negri, Boswell, Dean.

Photo: Matchday Images

Mark added 22:05 - Sep 24 A really tough season, not helped by having to play in a League Cup group. I don't like the format of that, as it is hard on sides like us with small squads. It is good to see Fleming and Guyatt back.
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tractorhatter added 22:10 - Sep 24 I went to the other group game in the group tonight as I was in the area with nothing do to! Left after 80 minutes when the crystal palace subs told their goalkeeper to go down with an injury to waste time. They were 2-1 down!
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armchaircritic59 added 23:51 - Sep 24 The experience will do them well, and be a pointer to just how far they need to go, before they get to where I'm sure they aspire to.
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Edmundo added 08:45 - Sep 25 It's fair to use this cup as a means to blood younger players and help those coming back from injuries. Bit of a meaningless competition really though.
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herfie added 09:15 - Sep 25 Learn lessons from the experience, and move swiftly. Don’t lose belief or confidence.
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