Town Women Fall to Last-Gasp Defeat
Wednesday, 30th Sep 2026 21:48 by Asif Burhan
Ipswich Town Women’s unbeaten start to the season ended after a last-gasp goal saw London City Lionesses to a 1-0 victory in their opening league phase Subway Players Cup match at the JobServe Community Stadium. After repelling everything the WSL1 side threw at them, the Blues were unlucky to succumb to a goal from Daniëlle van de Donk in the final minute.
Town sit third in WSL2 after two draws followed by two impressive wins in the league but found the new force in women’s football too strong in Colchester tonight.
London City sit fourth in the WSL1 standings and had won their last three matches in league and cup. They had also won 2-0 on their previous visit to face Town in the same competition last November.
Both sides made multiple changes to their weekend line-ups. Town only retained captain Maria Boswell and Kenzie Weir from Sunday’s win over Wolves. Coach David Wright handed first starts to Jorja Fox and Moroccan international Rosella Ayane, as well as a Town debut to Jenna Slattery.
From Sunday’s victory over Brighton, London City Lionesses retained Mapi León, Lucia Corrales and Grace Geyoro, the most expensive female player in the world.
Former England goalkeeper Mary Earps was also given a rare start after her summer move from PSG. She spent most of the game shouting instructions to her backline from a distance of over 50 yards as the visitors inevitably dominated the play from the outset.
Ahead of the match, Ipswich Town coach Wright urged his side to “play with freedom” as they entered the new Swiss-style league phase of the rebranded League Cup, which for the first time doesn’t include the three teams involved in European football.
In the absence of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, London City Lionesses are one of the favourites to win the competition and already had a win under their belt having won away to Leicester City last week.
And, after recruiting some of the best players in the world over the summer, Ipswich Town were being quoted at odds of up to 40-1 to defeat them tonight.
In the ninth minute, Geyoro seized possession on the edge of the box and shot for goal. The ball deflected wickedly off Lucy O’Brien, wrong-footing Natalia Negri in goal, who adjusted superbly to tip the ball around the post at full stretch.
Five minutes later, Nikita Parris may have done better than shoot straight at Negri from a Lucia Corrales cross.
Even under suffocating pressure, Town continued to attempt to play the ball out of defence and occasionally broke through the London City Lionesses’ high press without ever threatening to score in the first half.
They didn’t force their first corner until the 35th minute and it nearly cost them as a short pass from the restart led to a loss of possession from which Delphine Cascarino ran half the length of the field. Only a flag from the assistant referee prevented London City profiting from their quick break.
At the end of the first half, Town nearly scored when Ayane slipped the ball into the inside right channel and O’Brien nipped in ahead of the London City defence to steer a shot across Earps which dribbled agonisingly past the far post.
The visitors made three changes at the interval, replacing one lightning quick French right winger, Cascarino, with another, Diani.
They started the second half with more urgency but the home team continued to threaten on the break. Weir had the ball in the net but only after the assistant referee had raised his flag for offside from a Colette Cavanagh free-kick.
Thereafter, the away side increased the pressure on Town, forcing a succession of corners. The home side defended heroically, throwing their bodies in front of shots to prevent Negri from having to make any more saves.
Just after the hour, London City made their final two changes, throwing on former Ipswich Town player Freya Godfrey and Dutch legend Van de Donk. The home side also sent on two fresh forwards with 20 minutes remaining, bringing on Meg Hornby and Princess Ademiluyi.
It took until the 83rd minute for Negri to be tested, comfortably parrying a shot from the right side by Maria Pérez to safety. Three minutes later, Slattery shot optimistically from 35 yards but failed to hit the target.
Van de Donk’s last-minute goal broke the hearts of the Town supporters as she slammed the ball home off the underside of the crossbar after good work by Godfrey on the left, who escaped Paige Peake on the edge of the area on the left and sent over a low ball.
Ipswich Town will return to league action with a trip to Sheffield United on Sunday.
Ipswich Town: Negri; Boswell (c), Peake, Weir, Fox; Cavanagh, Dear; McAteer (Hornby, 69), O’Brien, Slattery; Ayane (Ademiluyi, 70)
London City Lionesses: Earps; Thomsen, Linari, Mapi León (Kardinaal, 46), Lucia Corrales (Jana Fernández, 46); Geyoro, Pérez; Cascarino (Diani, 46), Kafaji, Parris (van de Donk, 66); Goodwin (Godfrey, 66). Att: 1,283.
_Photo: ITFC/Matchday Images_