Town women to kick off cup history

TOWN Women host Ipswich Town in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup tomorrow afternoon – playing at the John Smith’s Stadium for the first time in their history.

Having reached the fifth round of the competition last season, the club’s best ever run, this weekend’s tie (1pm) promises to be the biggest match in the club’s history.

And they go into the match in the best possible form having won their past six matches in all competitions – the last of which was the 12-0 demolition of Doncaster Rovers Belles last week.

Laura Elford netted four goals, with Kate Mallin also bagging a hat-trick. Top scorer Lucy Sowerby scored her 17th goal of the season, while Katie Nutter notched a brace, Charlotte Newsham put her chance away and Hannah Smith opened her account for the senior team to complete the rout.

First-team goalkeeping coach Michael Emery was thrilled with the performance.

“The most pleasing thing for me was how we came out for the second half 4-0 up and didn’t take our foot off the gas and we had more to give,” he said.

“Lee [Harrison] and myself have spoken in training about being at our best for the whole 90-plus minutes and playing as a team, so to see us in putting some good moves together and scoring impressive team goals was great.”

After the dramatic late show against Loughborough in their last FA Cup game, keeping a clean sheet in South Yorkshire was pleasing for manager Ashley Vickers.

“It’s always good to get a clean sheet. It’s not everything, though,” he remarked. Town have won their past six games in all competitions and Vickers says they couldn’t go into Sunday’s game in better form.

“It’s always great to be on a good run. We’ve won six in a row but we now need to make sure we are ready to win again,” he explained.

The club have long awaited their opportunity to showcase themselves at the John Smith’s and, now their chance is upon them, Vickers knows they must grab it with both hands.

“It is going to be an historic day,” he added. “It’s an amazing opportunity for the club to showcase ourselves on a bigger scale but we need to make sure we do ourselves proud.”

■■It’s pay at the gate and admission costs £5 for adults (under 16s are free with a paying adult). Concessions cost £3 (under 16s and over 60s). Turnstiles will open at 12.30pm.