Blues women in form

IPSWICH Town Women's teams enjoyed double success at the weekend with local derby victories over South East Combination teams, Norwich City and Colchester United.

The Premier League club played two teams with a mixture of first team and reserve players along with a few girls straight out of last season's under-16s.

Sean Thacker took charge of the players who travelled to Norwich City and was pleased with the performance of his young and inexperienced team on a difficult surface in gaining a deserved 3-1 victory.

Last season's leading scorers in the reserves and first teams did the damage with Laura Green (2) and Michelle Allum on target.

Meanwhile at Colchester, under the guidance of Greg Cooper, the remainder of the squad also enjoyed a good afternoon running out 5-2 winners over the Essex side.

In an ironic way, Colchester were undone by their own Centre of Excellence as former pupils Helen Bass (3), Stacey Balaam and Sarah Dooley showed their gratitude by scoring the Town goals.

This Sunday Sean Thacker takes his first team squad to Charlton for a massive test against one of the leading teams in the country. Charlton have recently signed a number of new players including England internationals. Town know that this game will be vastly different from the pre season games so far.

Sean Thacker said: "It is always nice to be winning games and scoring goals, but with the first league game just over a week away, the defence needs to be given a stern test and I want to see how the players respond when the going gets tougher."

Squad: Nicola Scott, Hannah Cook, Leanne Parker, Norma Ives, Shelley Pleasance, Penny Farrow, Sarah Dooley, Holly Williams, Helen Bass, Vicky Brackenbury, Michelle Allum, Angela Arnold, Lisa Culley. Kate Sandlan, Kate Roofe, Laura Green and Jo Miller are on standby.

The reserve team travels to north Suffolk to take on Corton Ladies.