Ipswich Town 2 Plymouth 0
Town Women maintained their winning run in the race for the FAWNL Southern Premier Division title with a 2-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle at the Goldstar Ground on Sunday.
Eva Hubbard's deflected strike opened the scoring just before half-time, with Eloise King netting just three minutes after the restart to give Town a comfortable victory on the second of two double-header weekends with Plymouth Argyle this season.
The Blues started on the front foot with Lucy O'Brien going close after Lucy Egan flicked on Abbie Lafayette's corner. Shortly after, Maria Boswell galloped down the right-hand side before delivering a sublime cross into the centre but Natasha Thomas was unbalanced and headed over the bar.
Two minutes later, Argyle goalkeeper Jasmine Read was called into action as she palmed away a dangerous free-kick from Lafayette.
Town maintained their spell of pressure and Lafayette was soon involved again as she linked up with Hubbard before putting in a dangerous cross, with Silvana Flores going agonisingly close to opening her account for Ipswich with a glancing header.
The Tractor Girls continued to plug away in search of an opener, with both Flores and O'Brien trying their luck from distance to no avail. Finally, four minutes from the break, Town opened the scoring through the unlikeliest of scorers.
Plymouth failed to clear Boswell's dangerous cross into the area and the ball fell kindly to Hubbard, who blasted the ball home with the help of a deflection for her first Ipswich Town goal on her 73rd appearance for the club.
Town picked up where they left off after the restart as they doubled their lead within a matter of minutes. After working the ball forward through a neat passage of play, the ball came to King, who drove into the Plymouth area and rifled the ball past Read for her 6th goal of the season.
Argyle soon had their first real chance of the game as skipper Zoe Cunningham let fly from 25-yards, forcing Sarah Quantrill to palm the ball away at full stretch. The Blues then went close twice in as many minutes.
First, Thomas robbed her defender before fizzing an inviting cross towards the arriving Flores but the ball evaded the Mexican international. Next, Bonnie Horwood played a short corner to Lafayette, who took aim towards goal and her shot was almost turned in by the head of Paige Peake.
Cunningham soon went close for Plymouth once again as her free-kick sailed just wide of the post with Quantrill scrambling across her goal.
The visitors enjoyed a good spell in the latter stages of the game and were playing with their tails up as substitute Amber Pollock flashed a cross just over the bar after a rapid counter-attack. However, that spirited spell from Argyle was to be in vain as the Tractor Girls held on comfortably to secure a vital three points at the business end of the season.
Town return to action this Sunday at home to Southampton in a mouthwatering clash at the Goldstar Ground.
Town: Quantrill, Boswell (Bryant), Peake, Egan, Lafayette, Hubbard (Hughes), Horwood (c), King, Flores (Barratt), O'Brien (Brasero-Carreira), Thomas.
Unused: L. Jackson
Att: 274
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