Ipswich Town Women 2-0 Nottingham Forest Women (Friendly) 16.05.21

Ipswich Town Women inflicted what was only the second, post-season defeat in eight outings on Nottingham Forest at the weekend, the Garibaldi Girls losing to 2-0 on the road in East Anglia.

In having pretty much used the vast majority of what has been a twenty-plus playing squad in recent weeks, Head Coach, Andy Cook, travelled to Playford Road, home of the FA Women’s National League Division One South East side, with a small, compact, yet experienced, fifteen-person squad for this post-season game.

The hosts dominated the opening quarter, Forest no doubt affected in part by the distance in which they travelled, a near 300-mile round-trip all-told, but they gave their all, having several chances in the opening half through Katie Middleton and Mai Moncaster, Hayley James proving a little troublesome for the home side.

Anna Grey and Paige Peake would produce some early, threatening offence, for the home side, Aja Aguirre and her backline holding their own meaning that, come the interval, the game remained goalless.

The early exchanges of the second period would be a cagey affair, both sides again feeling each other out but, as the game wore on, the hosts would come into their own and, after Mai Moncaster attempted a cross-cum-shot shortly after the hour, it would be the hosts who’d break the deadlock.

Second-half sub, O’Brien, would be seen to slip the ball through the visiting defence and into the path of Anna Grey, she slipping the ball beneath the advancing Aguirre for the opener.

Then, within minutes of the game restarting, the hosts were afforded the opportunity to double their lead, Forest giving away a penalty, Paige Peake obliging and sending Aguirre the wrong way from the spot.

Both sides would register a couple of half-chances in the final quarter of this intriguing, post-season contest, Sophia Bonser trying her luck from fully thirty yards plus but the home stopper, Leonie Jackson, was equal to it, and, inside the final five, the hosts would see efforts from O’Brien, sail over the bar, and Briggs, slide wide of goal.

The hosts held on for the win however, and it’s another quick turnaround for Andy Cook’s charges, Forest Women making the short trip across country when they face Aston Villa Academy on Wednesday night and, with two further games to come afterwards, they’ll be itching for a quick response to this loss.

Forest: Aguirre, Walters, Harkin, Cook, Hewitt, James (Matthews 32), Middleton (Higginbottom 32), Tudor, Moncaster (Brown 64), Bonser (Fisher 32), Brown (Dexter 32).

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @RossMediaUK action from Ipswich and Forest.