Light squad, hard loss

…

Ipswich Ladies 1s made their way in to the depths of London to meet Spencer on a SCORCHER of an Octobers day. Another painfully long journey on the bus for the girls but they warmed up well and did their best to switch on.

Ipswich got off to a very slow start, having to fight to get the ball across the half way line. With many penalty corners being defended, Spencer didn’t manage to find a goal. The new defensive line for today made up of, captain Lucy Dunnett, POTM Charlotte Satchwell and Lizzy Wheelhouse, who finds herself closer to her defending circle than her preferred position. All 3 adapted to their new roles as they worked the ball up the pitch to try find their own forwards.

Spencer maintain the pressure on Ipswich until Dunnett finds Taylor Ball on the half way for a 1v1 counter. Unable to convert that chance; both teams stayed
level at 0-0 into half time.

Change of ends and thankfully the temperature started to drop! A big start from Spencer again, setting Ipswich on the back foot. A messy goal in the ugly zone in the circle Spencer go 1-0 up. Ipswich do their best to not let their heads drop. They work hard to the 3rd quarter whistle.

Ipswich had to really dig deep in the final quarter. Some positional changes were made with Poppy Dring Richardson moving into the centre midfield and Bea Noordhuis moving out into the wide midfield. Ipswich then started to pick the balls and gain some more possession into their opponents’ half. Passes were made down the left to the pacy May Percival who tried to connect with Taylor Ball in the circle. Sadly another narrowly missed chance for Ipswich.
Ipswich began to ran out of legs and lungs as another Spencer goal goes into the backboard. Ipswich blowing and couldn’t keep the score at 2-0, with Spencer grabbing another to end the game at 3-0.
Ipswich feeling defeated. A hard loss to take but a good challenge for up and coming young players to face adaptations and the intense competition of National League.

Albeit a hard report to write, the stat of the weekend remains strong! A mighty numbers stat with 35 penalty corners defended and clean sheet from GK Ali Barham and her PCD team!

Next week, Ipswich meet Hampstead and Westminster 2s on home soil. See you there for your support on the sideline!