Ipswich Town Women secured their WSL2 status in emphatic fashion this afternoon, scoring three goals in the first 15 minutes to race into a lead in emphatic fashion against league leaders Birmingham City at St Andrew’s, before putting in assured defensive performance to see out a famous 3-0 victory and all three points.

Blues manager David Wright, who was deservedly handed the role on a permanent basis this week, made one change from the team that had thumped Sheffield United 4-1 at home in midweek with Lysianne Proulx replacing Natalia Negri in goal, Town’s regular stopper instead named on the bench.

Skipper Maria Boswell, Paige Peake, Kenzie Weir and Bethan Roe continued as the back four, with Colette Cavanagh and Leah Mitchell in front of them as the defensive midfielders.

Sophie Peskett, Kit Graham and Lucy Ashworth-Clifford, all involved in either creating or scoring goals midweek, lined up as the attacking three behind striker Princess Ademiluyi.

Joining Negri on the bench was fellow keeper Laura Hartley, along with Grace Neville, Megan Wearing, Nelly Las, Malaika Meena, Lucy O’Brien, Natasha Thomas and Rianna Dean.

The hosts started the game brightly, getting straight in at Ipswich and forcing a shot in the first minute which went straight to Proulx. On four, Birmingham had an attacking free-kick which was delivered deep into the box, the initial clearance then put back in for Leidhammar to tamely head wide.

Two minutes later, however, Town took the lead. Kit Graham picked up the ball in the middle of the park and stormed forward before letting fly from distance, the ball sailing past Birmingham keeper Lucy Thomas.

Birmingham responded by going on the attack again, Wilma Leidhammar heading wide again on nine from an inviting cross into the Town box.

On 12 the Blues won the first corner of the game, which led to their second goal. Lucy Ashworth-Clifford’s deep delivery was punched away by Thomas only as far as Ademiluyi, who rose high to nod home from short range. The home side seemed stunned, holding an emergency huddle in their box as the visitors celebrated.

Whatever was said in that huddle did not help, however, as three minutes later Town extended their advantage. Cavanagh launched the ball forward from deep in Town’s half, it was headed back to Graham on the right by Birmingham skipper Chelsea Cornet. Graham was then effectively able to repeat her effort for the first goal by striding forward before lashing the ball past Thomas from outside the box.

With Town three goals to the good, the game shifted to a phase of attack versus defence, the visitors happy to concede possession to Birmingham and put in a solid defensive effort.

On 20, Lotta Lindström worked the ball down the right before whipping the ball into the Town box, Cavanagh stretching out a boot to poke the ball towards Proulx to clear.

Five minutes later, Birmingham delivered a dangerous ball into the box from a free-kick, but Proulx was quick to claim it.

Just before the 30-minute mark, Birmingham were able to move the ball quickly up the field from their own half and pick out Lindström in the box, but the forward was only able to shoot over from close range. Shortly after, the home side were on the attack again but Leidhammar could only head wide.

On 35 Town got back on the front foot, Ashworth-Clifford getting down the left flank and almost picking out Ademiluyi in the box. The effort was cleared only as far as Graham, who could only find Thomas.

The Birmingham stopper then launched a counter-attack, which led to some ping-pong in the Town box, Proulx spilling the ball before it was eventually cleared, Peskett then winning a free-kick as she looked to move the ball up the pitch.

From the restart, Ademiluyi got down the right flank to get off a tight-angled shot away, which Thomas was forced to block. Ashworth-Clifford’s subsequent corner was then hacked away by the Birmingham defence. Two minutes before the scheduled end of the half, Ademiluyi picked up the first yellow card of the game for a shirt pull.

In the first of three added minutes, Town had another corner, whipped in by Roe and spilled by Thomas, but Birmingham were able to quickly clear to Lily Crosthwaite, who then lost the ball with an errant pass.

In the final minute of the half there was another delay for treatment after Thomas collided with defender Hannah Silcock as she came out to punch clear a free-kick delivery from Town, Silcock able to continue after a concussion check. The referee then brought the game to a halt for half-time shortly after the restart.

Birmingham manager Amy Merricks unsurprisingly made a triple change at the break, with Veatriki Sarri, Martha Harris and Lee Geum-Min replacing Océane Hurtré, Silcock and Leidhammar. The changes seemed to embolden the home side with Sarri creating half-chances inside the first 10 minutes of the second half.

But, same as in the first half, Town weathered Birmingham’s domination of possession well. Proulx was called into action on 54 to push Crosthwaite’s shot out for a corner, with the visitors winning a free-kick for a high boot as the ball was then put into the box.

Birmingham had another corner soon after which they took short, but were unable to work the ball past the Town defence before putting the ball out for a goal kick.

On 63 Wright made his first changes of the afternoon, replacing Ademiluyi and Ashworth-Clifford with Rianna Dean and Nelly Las.

There was a stoppage soon after for Neve Herron to receive treatment after a nasty clash with Cavanagh in a 50/50 challenge, the defender eventually unable to continue and helped off the pitch by the physio as she was replaced by Shannon Cooke.

In the 74th minute, Merricks made another change to her side, introducing Batcheba Louis in place of Lindström. Soon after the change, Cavanagh received a caution for a late sliding challenge.

With 11 minutes remaining, Wright made further substitutions, Natasha Thomas and Grace Neville coming on for Graham and Peskett, the latter having been kept quiet in the second period.

Two minutes later Birmingham made a foray down the left through Sarri, but her cross could not pick out a teammate in the box.

On 85 Birmingham almost pulled a goal back during a frantic period of activity in the Town box. Cornet’s initial header was cleared off the line by Weir, only for the ball to be recycled to Harris, with Weir alert again to clear the ball away from what looked to be a certain goal.

In the penultimate scheduled minute, Las was booked after preventing Birmingham from quickly taking a free-kick.

With seven minutes added on to the end of the second half, Birmingham started throwing players forward in an attempt to try and get something out of the game.

Crosthwaite looked to break into the box in the first minute of added-on time but was adjudged to have fouled Mitchell, who had done well to storm back and get the right side of the Birmingham forward.

As the clock ran down, Birmingham’s chances became more desperate, with speculative efforts from Harris and Cornet either going wide or easily being held by Proulx. After another stoppage for Roe to receive treatment, the referee blew the whistle to end the match.

The win was well deserved for Town, who after a brief spell of pressure produced an electric 10 minutes to score three great goals.

Once well ahead, the visitors were then very comfortable to sit back and defend their lead, Birmingham seeing a lot of the ball but doing very little with it.

Birmingham’s triple change at half-time improved their performance, but a stalwart Town defence meant any chances created were of little danger, Weir and Peake in particular at the heart of clearing Town’s lines.

With Portsmouth losing 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest, Town are safe from an immediate return to the FAWNL with a game to spare, with Pompey now unable to catch any of the teams above them.

With Town looking almost dead and buried at the turn of the year, Wright has been able to build on the changes made by Joe Sheehan in his last few games in charge to mastermind a superb second-half of the season to keep the Blues in the WSL2 for another season.

Credit must also be given to the mid-season recruitment, the arrival of Sean Burt from Hearts as technical director seeing an unprecedented nine signings arriving in the January window to vastly bolster the quality in the squad.

Town can now go into their final game of the season next weekend, at home to Sunderland, with no pressure and can look to avenge the cruel 2-1 defeat in the north-east earlier in the season, which turned out to be Sheehan’s final game in charge.

Ipswich Town: Proulx, Boswell (c), Peake, Weir, Roe, Cavanagh, Mitchell, Peskett, Graham, Ashworth-Clifford (Las 63), Ademiluyi (Dean 63). Unused: Negri, Hartley, Wearing, Meena, O’Brien.

Birmingham City: Thomas, Silcock (Harris 46), Holloway, McKenna, Herron (Cooke 69), Leidhammar (Lee 46), Crosthwaite, Cornet (c), Lindstrom, Hurtre (Sarri 46), Asato. Unused: Unused: Irvine, Harrison-Murray, Hopcroft, Quinn. Attendance: 3,358.

Photo: ITFC/Matchday Images