Report: Argyle Women 1-5 Ipswich Town
Argyle lost 5-1 at home to Ipswich Town in the FA Women’s National League Southern Division on Sunday, but put in a valiant display against one of the league’s leading sides.
Ipswich took the lead through Leah Mitchell, but Argyle took the game in level at half-time after Charlotte Whitmore’s equaliser. In the early part of the second half, Ipswich scored via Charlotte Fleming and Angela Addison, and grabbed a fourth and fifth in the dying minutes, from Maria Boswell and another from Fleming, but the Pilgrims should be proud of a battling display against lofty opposition.
Ipswich, a full-time outfit, came into the game as the only unbeaten side in the division, having finished second last season, narrowly missing on promotion to the second tier.
Naturally, they entered the game with confidence, and had most of the ball, but Argyle, settling into a hardworking, organised 4-5-1 shape, made life hard for the visitors.
During the first 15 minutes, Ipswich had a few corners, which Argyle dealt well with, but on 16 minutes Town’s Shauna Guyett sent in another corner which was headed goalwards, went through the hands of Comfort Erhabor, and trickled over the line.
The game fell back into a similar pattern; Ipswich with the ball, moving Argyle around, but the Greens holding firm. A long-range effort from captain Maria Boswell went not too far over the bar, and Ipswich did force the ball into the net from another corner, but an offside flag was raised.
Argyle got a reward for their perseverance with an equaliser a minute into first-half stoppage time. Ella Stephens won the ball high on the left, and worked it to Ellie Sara, who in turn played out to Lulu Jarvis on the right. Patiently, Jarvis, held the ball, used a run from Ava Kuyken as a decoy, then sent in a deep, inswinging cross.
Whitmore gambled on the flight of the delivery, and although it took a slight defensive error to allow the opportunity, Whitmore seized it, and tucked the ball away.
Ipswich quickly reminded Argyle of their power when earning a free-kick on the edge of the box within two minutes of the restart, with Angela Addison thumping her effort against the crossbar.
Natasha Thomas then worked her way into the box and hit a strong effort on target, only to see Erhabor push away smartly.
Ipswich regained the lead, though, on 53 minutes. Argyle thought they had cleared their lines following a right-wing cross, but Fleming hooked goalwards, slightly speculatively, from just outside the box, but the speculation paid off, and the ball sailed in.
The lead was increased five minutes later, when Addison picked up a loose ball following Argyle trying to play out from the back, and slammed in a precise finish.
The second rather meandered after this, with Ipswich in a comfort zone, and Argyle unable to get up the pitch to threaten a comeback.
In the closing stages, Boswell bundled in from a free-kick, and added another to Town’s tally.
Argyle now look to next Sunday’s FA Women’s National League Cup tie against Billericay Town, as they seek a spot in the last 16 of the competition.
Argyle: 56 Comfort Erhabor, 2 Katie Dickson, 3 Roxy Thomas, 6 Taya Pomfret, 7 Charlotte Whitmore, 9 Ellie Sara (19 Erin O’Shea 77), 10 Georgia Wilson (15 Georgie Knott, 77), 16 Ella Stephens (20 Fern Orchard, 81), 17 Lulu Jarvis (8 Imy Crawford, 66), 24 Ava Kuyken, 26 Caitlin Smith (capt). Substitutes: 1 Lily Felgate (gk), 5 Giota Papaioannou, 14 Kelsey Blight.
Goals: Whitmore 45+1
Booked: Knott 89
Ipswich: 1 Natalia Negri, 2 Maria Boswell (capt), 4 Charlotte Fleming, 6 Leah Mitchell (3 Summer Hughes, 70), 7 Natasha Thomas, 11 Lucy O’Brien (10 Eloise King, 90), 17 Sophie Peskett, 20 Megan Wearing (12 Issy Bryant, 83), 21 Maisy Barker, 23 Shauna Guyett (22 Evie Williams, 83), 24 Angela Addison (5 Grace Garrad, 90). Substitutes: 31 Laura Hartley (gk).
Goals: Mitchell 16, Fleming 53, Addison 58
Attendance: 873
