Town players enjoy their win at Portman RoadTown players enjoy their win at Portman Road (Image: Steve Waller) Another brilliant occasion
Last year, Ipswich Town Women played out a 5-0 win at home to Chatham Town in their first ever league game at Portman Road. Their season was over at that point, but 10,173 fans were in attendance to watch them play. It was a real milestone moment.
Exactly 12 months on, they returned to the stadium to play Plymouth. This time it was different – they had something to fight for.
The attendance was 10,807. The difference of 673 is a low average for the number of fans who watch games at the Martello Ground in Felixstowe on a weekly basis.
It shows how big the demand can be, not just for women’s football, but for the Tractor Girls in particular. The match was treated like a men’s fixture, with fire and pyro being launched as the players walked out.
Manager Joe Sheehan revealed that there were security guards on the coach into the stadium, allowing the squad to walk through the fans to enter the ground just like the men do before a Premier League game.
There was a roar every time the hosts scored and a feeling of palpable excitement throughout the afternoon. Many supporters stayed behind long after the full-time whistle as the players took photos and signed autographs by the side of the pitch.
There was a really special feeling about the whole afternoon.
Town players celebrate with Lucy O'Brien after her early goal to give them 1-0 lead.Town players celebrate with Lucy O'Brien after her early goal to give them 1-0 lead. (Image: Steve Waller) Three goalscorers with history
Lucy O’Brien opened the scoring just one minute and 44 seconds into the match, bagging her first ever goal at Portman Road. She signed for Ipswich in the summer of 2020, having spent time at Cambridge United ACC and MK Dons RTC earlier in her career.
She came through Town’s academy system, making her debut against Billericay Town back in April 2021. Now, she’s one of the best players in this team.
Natasha Thomas, who scored the second with a brave header, has been at the club since 2015. Unsurprisingly, she is the Blues’ all-time leading goalscorer and the longest-serving player at the club. A true Town legend.
A Jamaica international, she’s a trustee of the Ipswich Town Foundation and was described as ‘part of the furniture’ by Sheehan after the match.
Sophie Peskett, who fired home the third goal to wrap up the win, is arguably the star player. She joined the club’s WSL Academy squad from Essex RTC back in 2019, making her debut as a 16-year-old. She became Town’s first professional women’s player in the summer of 2021 and managed to overcome a torn ACL shortly after that.
Those three players truly deserved to be on the scoresheet at Portman Road.
The Tractor Girls are closing in on promotionThe Tractor Girls are closing in on promotion (Image: Steve Waller) Promotion in sight
There’s a lot of brilliant narrative off the pitch, but it’s impossible to ignore that’s happened on it. Ipswich are closing in on promotion to the Women’s Championship.
Coming into the afternoon, they sat three points behind leaders Hashtag United, but they boasted a superior goal difference and two games in hand. Now, following Hashtag’s 2-0 defeat to Gwalia United and Town’s win against Plymouth, everything has changed.
Sheehan is usually tight-lipped about his side’s position in the promotion race, but even he admitted that this was a ‘big swing’ on a significant weekend.
Hashtag don’t play again until April 12th, with Town playing twice between now and then. If they win both games, promotion will be all but mathematically confirmed.
They can’t become complacent now. The men’s team were successful by blocking outside noise in their bid to reach the Premier League last season. The Tractor Girls will look to do the same, with a home match against Gwalia and a trip to Watford on the horizon.
All being well, they could be ready to party when they face MK Dons at Stadium MK on April 13th, but there’s still work to do for that to happen.
Leah Mitchell crosses for TownLeah Mitchell crosses for Town (Image: Steve Waller) Sheeran shows his support
Popstar Ed Sheeran is, as everyone knows, a big Ipswich fan. He’s been to plenty of games in the last few years and remains the club's front-of-shirt sponsor.
He made sure that he wasn’t going to miss the Tractor Girls playing at Portman Road this year as they earned their hard-fought win. Afterwards, he came into the dressing room to meet the players, singing with them as they celebrated a crucial result.
Building up to the game, he announced that he would be in attendance, which surely helped to boost ticket sales. There was a big cheer from the Sir Bobby Robson Stand when he was spotted watching the game in the first half.
His involvement with the women’s team could be crucial when it comes to raising the profile of the game, and Sheehan is well aware of his importance.
“He’s an absolute global sensation,” the manager said about Sheeran after the match. “You can probably count on one hand how many more high-profile music artists there are in this world.
“The fact that he’s attached to our football club and is so personable - the players enjoyed conversing with him today and he was so pleased with their performance.
“It does make it a little bit more special, for sure.”
Natasha Thomas holds the ball upNatasha Thomas holds the ball up (Image: Steve Waller) What next?
When Ipswich Town Women beat Chatham last year, all eyes were on the future. Now, everyone’s focused on what they can achieve in the next few weeks. The next few weeks could go down in the history books.
After all, the Women’s Championship is a really high level – just one tier down from the WSL, which is regularly broadcast on Sky Sports and around the world.
The support in the league can be huge. For example, Newcastle United hosted arch-rivals Sunderland in front of more than 38,000 supporters yesterday afternoon, even though it was a dead-rubber for both teams.
There’s a feeling that – if this is the year that they do secure promotion to the second division – they can really kick on. They are clearly a level above most of their opponents in the FAWNL Southern Premier Division. It feels like they are ready for a new challenge.
Those who run the club will support them. They have ensured that the team has strengthened over time and will soon have a new place to practice and develop, moving into the men’s facilities once their new training ground is complete. Work has already begun for that to happen.
The Tractor Girls are only at the beginning of their journey, but everyone can see that they are heading in the right direction. Vitally, days like this will also help to inspire the next generation, improving the team and growing the sport in the long-term.