Tractor Girls Travel to Face Hashtag Aiming to Maintain 100 Per Cent Start
Wednesday, 6th Sep 2023 11:01

Ipswich Town Women will be aiming to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season when they face Hashtag United in the FAWNL Southern Premier Division at Parkside, Aveley this evening (KO 7.45pm).

The Tractor Girls thrashed Plymouth 7-1 on Sunday in their second league match having won 2-1 away at Cardiff on the opening day. Between the two, they defeated Billericay 4-2 in the FAWNL Cup.

“To win both league games and to progress in the cup is a really good start,” manager Joe Sheehan said.

“But we’ve been in a position over a couple of years where we’ve had really good starts and fallen short, and then last year we didn’t have a great start and we still came quite close.

“Not looking too far ahead at this stage, it’s a long, gruelling season but we’re really pleased with the start we’ve made and we’ll take it one game at a time.”

This evening’s game is followed by another away trip on Sunday, to face MK Dons at Stadium MK.

“It’s a first three-game week for us, so that adds another element to it and it’s going to be a really warm week, and two really tough opponents,” Sheehan added.

“It’s going to be a really good and exciting but challenging week for us and these are the kind of weeks and fixtures that we embrace.”

Hashtag have made a similarly impressive start to their season having won away games at Chatham and Oxford 3-1 and 2-1 respectively following their promotion from FAWNL Division One South East as champions last season.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Sheehan continued. “Hashtag are a good team, they’ve moved up to this division and settled in really well.

“We knew when we came across them previously that they would be a team which would probably get promoted, so credit to them.

“They’re a well-established team now in women’s football and they’re doing some really good things.

“It won’t be an easy game, they’re a team that is used to winning games of football, they’re on a really good streak. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be under lights and it’ll be a real test.”

Last season, Hashtag beat the Blues 2-0 in a FAWNL Cup first-round tie at Parkside, a game which Sheehan says was Town’s worst display during that campaign.

“It was a League Cup fixture last year that was probably at our lowest point, our poorest performance of the season as a whole,” he recalled.

“But credit to Hashtag that day, they warranted the win and I’m sure that we’ll want to make sure we perform a little bit better on this occasion, and there are three points at stake this time as well, so there’s a little bit more on the game.

“Some will I’m sure will be conscious of the previous result but others it will be a fresh game for them.”

Meanwhile, Blues defender Megan Wearing has been named in the Scotland U19s squad for their friendlies against Hungary later this month.

The Scots youngsters face the Hungarians on Friday 22nd September and again four days later with both matches at Ainslie Park, Edinburgh.

Photo: Ross Halls

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