The pouring rain was a metaphor for the way Ipswich Women’s 1s felt at the end of their game against East London 1s, having squandered away a 1-0 lead.

With the pitch sodden which resulted in a slow moving ball, it was Ipswich who capitalised on this with captain Lucy Dunnett, Emma Rix, Sophie Sexton and Sophie Sunderland passing the ball smoothly through the midfield.

Camped around the East London 23, it seemed only a matter of time before the away team took the lead, winning a number of attacking PCs with Eloise Ward drawing fouls, but it wasn’t Ipswich’s day and they weren’t able to convert despite some smart play by Sexton and Dunnett.

The Ipswich defence were relaxed at the back with player of the match Ellie Scott, Molly Marshall and Beth Scott keeping East London at bay with relative ease.

With the half time break over, East London quickly went down to 10 players for a brutal tackle on Sexton in the D, resulting in a PS to Ipswich. Lizzy Wheelhouse coolly stepped up to the ball and slotted it past the keeper to take the 1-0 lead.

It was in the 4th quarter where things began to crumble for the small Ipswich squad and East London quickly overloaded Ipswich to score a breakaway goal to equalise.

Despite some strong tackles from Ellie Scott, Marshall and Jessica Logan, not two minutes later, they broke through the Ipswich defence again and took the lead with a crisp hit into the bottom corner. This was followed quickly by another breakaway leaving keeper Ali Barham stranded with the opposition having time to place the ball cleanly into the goal for a 3-1 lead.

But Ipswich were not down and out. Changing formation and pushing hard, the team were desperate to clinch a point. With forwards Phoenix Page, Kate Wingar and Lizzy Wheelhouse pressing as hard as they could, it was Wheelhouse who forced the East London error allowing Molly Marshall to dribble into the circle, and slot the ball beyond the keeper, for her first National League goal.

Ipswich fought until the bitter end but as the rain stopped, they ran out of time to equalise handing East London the 3 points. Bitterly disappointed, the team are determined to put that emotion behind them and go into their next game remembering the positive play as they take on Hampstead and Westminster 2s at their Tuddenham Road pitch.