Sunderland 1 Ipswich 3

English Cup

Round Four

Sunderland 1 Ipswich 3

A severely depleted Ipswich squad showed immense spirit on Sunday to beat Division One leaders Sunderland and progress to the quarter-finals of the EH Cup for the third year in a row.

Ipswich will now face Slough, the team they narrowly lost to on Saturday, away on the 24th February for a place in the semi-finals.

The Suffolk side travelled to the north east missing six key players in the form of Jenny Hall, Kirsten Spencer, Leisa King, Emma Lee-Smith, Lucy Gallagher and Miriam Fabregas.

Coming into the squad as replacements were second team players Annie Nunn, Kat Wrinch and Belgian Annie Broster.

With Sunderland flying high at the top of Division One this had all the makings of a classic cup tie, however Ipswich were determined to take the win and underline the gulf in standards between the divisions.

The game started with the home side taking the early initiative as this new look Ipswich side adjusted to unfamiliar faces.

Sunderland gained several short corners but the Ipswich goalkeeper Charlotte Lee-Smith dealt with them all easily and, after ten minutes, Ipswich began to settle into their game.

Vic Sandall dominated any exchanges in the midfield area and with Lizzy Aldous and Jess Bloom stretching the home sides defence, it looked only a matter of time before Ipswich scored.

Sure enough, in the 17th minute, Aldous obliged with a cracking goal. A perfect pass from Sandall saw Aldous through one-on-one with the keeper and she unleashed a fierce shot from the top of the circle that had hit the backboard before the home sides keeper had even moved.

Sunderland looked shell-shocked after their good start had amounted to nothing and, just before half time, Ipswich captain Becky Baker rubbed salt into their wounds when her superb drag flick from a short corner found the top corner of the goal.

The second half saw Ipswich dominate all over the pitch and coach Royce Waters must have been extremely pleased with the display of his second team players.

Just six minutes after the restart Ipswich found their third goal when player-of-the-match Sandall drifted into the left hand side of the circle and unleashed a superb shot into the bottom corner.

Ipswich could have extended their lead further but, with time running out, the visitors were happy to keep possession as the home team became more and more frustrated.

Sunderland did get a consolation goal from a short corner with seven minutes to go, but it far too little too late to stop Ipswich marching into the next round.