Ipswich Town Ladies manager Ralph Pruden and captain Amanda Crump were both delighted to defend their county crown as the club celebrated a fourth successive Suffolk FA Women’s County Cup triumph with a 5-1 victory over AFC Sudbury at Colchester United’s Weston Homes Community Stadium, writes Kieren Standley.

The Tractor Girls fought back from an early 1-0 deficit to lift the trophy, star striker Natasha Thomas bagging a brace as the Blues romped away to a convincing victory in front of a bumper crowd of 456 on a scorching Bank Holiday Monday.

Speaking after his side’s success, Town boss Pruden said he was disappointed with the performance, but delighted to triumph. He explained: “It was great to get the win - at the start of the season it was something we spoke about wanting to retain.

“It’s a mixture of emotions as we were nowhere near it today and we really wanted to show what we can do in front of a decent crowd, so there’s a tinge of disappointment there.”

The Town boss, who has been in charge for four seasons, added: “Credit to Sudbury - they came out and played well. It must have been tough for them having not played many games in the build-up.

“We were terrible first-half and that’s something we spoke about at half-time - it’s just about the standards we’ve set ourselves this year and we weren’t achieving those at all.

“But credit to the girls, we had a good 20 minute spell where we scored three goals and put the game to bed.”

Of the bumper crowd, Pruden added: “Really pleased with that. We’d moaned about the County FA about the scheduling but fair play to them , they got the numbers out. It was a nice occasion and the girls would have felt a buzz playing in front of that crowd.”

Captain Crump, who missed last year’s final against Lowestoft due to the birth of her daughter, spoke of her joy at getting her hands on the trophy once again.

She said: “We’re absolutely delighted. We didn’t play at our best but we managed to turn it around in the second-half to create another three goals, so we’re really pleased.

“I was gutted to miss it last year but it was brilliant to play at a lovely stadium and lead the girls to a win.”