Ipswich Town Women face WSL2 leaders Birmingham City at St Andrew’s in their penultimate game of the season this afternoon (KO 2pm).

The Blues, whose manager David Wright was confirmed in his role on a permanent basis on Friday having been interim-boss since January, took a significant step towards confirming their WSL2 place for a second season when they beat Sheffield United 4-1 at the JobServe Community Stadium on Wednesday.

That moved Town up to 10th in the table, a point ahead of Durham and three in front of Portsmouth, who remain in the one relegation spot with all three sides having two games to play.

Birmingham head the division from Charlton on goal difference with both also having two matches remaining.

While Town are in action in the Midlands, Pompey are hosting seventh-placed Nottingham Forest. A Town draw and a Portsmouth defeat would mean the Blues are safe.

Earlier in the afternoon, Durham host the Blades, who aren’t definitely out of trouble themselves, sitting one point and one place above Town.

The Blues welcome Sunderland for their final game next Saturday, while Portsmouth are at Crystal Palace, Durham face a local derby away against Newcastle and Sheffield United are at home to Bristol City.

Former men’s team’s right-back Wright is delighted to continue in the role having taken the Blues to the verge of safety after taking over from Joe Sheehan midway through the season.

“Really pleased, really excited. It's a great opportunity for myself,” he told TownTV. “I’ve been doing the job for the past couple of months and working with the team, working with the players. I've really enjoyed it and really enjoyed working with the staff.

“It was a big change for the staff. Joe’s been here a long time and done a great job, so for them to be so open and welcome me in like they have done has been great.

“The girls themselves as well. A lot of them have got a long-term relationship with Joe and for them to be so open to new ideas and change, it's just made my life so much easier and made the job really good coming into it.”

Wright says the managerial situation being confirmed means it’s easier to plan for the next campaign and beyond.

“It's important, we've got the rest of the season to go and then we'll go into the close season where, as there generally is, there will be change,” he added.

Every club up and down the country will have some type of change, whatever that is, it'll evolve and that's quite exciting.

“And the plans that [chairman and CEO] Mark [Ashton] and [Chief operating officer] Luke [Werhun] and [director of football operations] Dmitri [Halajko] have got for the women's team are really exciting moving forward.

“But we've got to make sure that we don't take our eye off the ball this year. We've still got a job to do. We've got to make sure we stay in this league and then once we do that, we can get excited about the future.”

Wright says the ultimate target is getting into the women’s top flight for the first time in the club’s history, this season having been the first in WSL2.

“We want to move this forward, the club's really, really ambitious,” he continued. “We want the women's team playing in WSL1, that’s the end game.

“That’s going to take time, obviously it's gonna take time. But we have the support from Mark, Luke and Dimitri, and the owners as well.

“We know where we want to go and we're putting many structures in place behind the scenes to enable us to get there.”

Reflecting on the final two matches, starting with the daunting trip to face the the division’s top side, he added: “A great win against Sheffield United. We reflect on all the good stuff and then, as it is, you end up parking it quite quickly and eyes are straight on Birmingham, which is going to be a really tough game.

“They’re top of the league for a reason. It's the type of game where we're very respectful of the opponent who we’re coming up against, but never fearful.

“The girls are in a great place and we should be going into that game full of confidence.”

Photo: ITFC/Matchday Images