Preview | Argyle Women v Ipswich Town (H)
After a short break from action, Argyle Women return to Coach Road this Sunday, 3 March where they face Ipswich Town in the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division.
Ryan Perks’ side have had the opportunity to relax and recuperate following a positive start to the second half of their 2023/24 campaign that has seen the Greens extend their gap to the relegation zone. Crucial wins on the road, as well as confirmation of their place in the A&S Interiors Devon Women’s Premier Cup final after defeating Torquay United 4-0 at Coach Road two weeks ago, has made it a positive recent spell.
“We progressed to the final of the County Cup a couple of weeks back which we’re delighted with," said Perks. "The game was a bit slow, but we came away with a comfortable win and got the job done. It’s just a shame that we’ve had a week’s break, as I would’ve liked another game straight after Torquay to continue the momentum we’ve had since the new year.
“Our gap to the relegation zone has doubled since the second half of the season started. It’s the first season since I’ve been here that we’re looking quite comfortable. For the last two years, we’ve been fighting each game to keep ourselves out of the relegation scrap as the season approached its end, but now we want to focus on looking up the table and seeing how many points we can get and how high we can climb as the weeks go on.”
Unlike Argyle, there was no rest for the Tractor Girls last Sunday, as they comfortably beat third-placed Rugby Borough 4-1, marking Ipswich’s first home victory since the turn of the year. The Blues will be looking to gain momentum from last week's fixture and bounce back from their recent drop in the table. After beating Argyle by six goals earlier in the season, Joe Sheehan will be eager to try and harness a performance of that stature once more.
“So much has changed for us since that game against Ipswich earlier in the season,” said Perks, looking back at the side's last encounter. “We’ve continued to progress both on and off the pitch and have had some great performances against equally tough opponents. Despite being fifth, Ipswich are still one of the best teams in the league and have threats all over the pitch. I think they’ve just struggled to take their chances in the final third.
“We’ve proved before that we can compete against the best teams in the league and when I look back at the previous game there were moments where we caused issues for them. The togetherness, confidence and environment has been fantastic, and we’ve also added to our squad since then so It’ll be interesting to see how we compete with them this weekend and hopefully we can come away with another performance in the new year to be proud of.”
The game will be held at Coach Road, Newton Abbot. Kick-off is at 2pm, with tickets costing £5 for adults, and £3 for concessions while Under-16s gain entry free. If you cannot make it to the game, then updates are available on social media @ArgyleWFC.
