Tractor Girls Talk - Tough start to life in the WSL 2 after two defeats

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0:23Ross Halls:Hello, everybody. It's me, Roscoe, and welcome to the latest edition of the Kings of Anglia Track the Girls Talk podcast, sponsored by Stardust Spirits and Moleclia. Moleclia. Yeah, Tom, thank you very much for helping me. Yeah, I did the same on the flagship show. I'll get there one day. But two very good local companies in Suffolk. So check them out if you haven't already. But yes, we're here to bring you another Itch's Town Women's Podcast who are now in the WSL 2. And they've had their two opening games, which has been a tough start to life for the Tractor Girls in the second tier. But Tom, how's things with you?

1:00Ross Halls:We've been at both games, so we're going to talk about them in depth, the good things, the bad things. How are you? Yeah, I'm very well, thank you. Yeah, obviously nice to be back at it. I'm sure we're going to come on to it, but yeah, it hasn't been the best of starts for them. Tough, but yeah, I'm very well, thank you. How are you? I'm very well as well. It's been nice, me and you, been going to the games. Obviously, we had a nice little trip down the Southampton. The game wasn't the highlight. It was our trip and just going to the services, getting some food and then coming home. And then obviously, we're at Colchester on Sunday for the first home game in the WSL2.

1:39Ross Halls:It was very weird being in Colchester instead of Felix, though. But we have to get used to it. But yeah, my friend, two defeats to open the season. 4-0 at Southampton and 1-0 against Nottingham Forest, who are a newly promoted team just like us. just your opening thoughts on the two games what's the sort of standout sort of talking points from them because two different games but sadly both games were well beaten in yeah I think the thing that just is overriding what I noticed was just how physical the league is I know that Joe in his pre-match press conference ahead of Southampton said, you know, the step up from the National League to WSL2 is probably far bigger than the step from WSL2 up to the WSL.

2:39And I think in the first couple of games, you've seen that. It's especially in the Southampton game. I think that within the first 10 minutes, you could tell just how tough it was going to be for them that day. And the physicality of it is like nothing that they would have faced at the National League level. So I think that's the main standout from the two games is just how physical they have to be to compete at this level.

3:14Ross Halls:Yeah, very much so. An early curve for them. To be fair, though, to the Joshian side, in the Southampton game, there were six players making their debuts in the starting XI in the WSL2. So they've got to obviously learn on the job, although they're always wanting to – this is where they want to be in that XI. There's, you know, Academy graduates, obviously Natasha Thomas, who's been part of this journey from Tier 4. But, yeah, that was sort of a nice sort of moment, though, Tom, sort of seeing these players who were part of that promotion-winning team, you know, making their first step up in the second tier.

3:47Yeah, great, great for them. Obviously, that's what they've all been pushing for for so long. You know, a few of them had opportunities to get to this level already, but they wanted to do it with Ipswich and they got that opportunity. And it was great to see great to see them play. Play at this level and test themselves and learn from it. And, you know, it's something that you can't really prepare for. until you actually have to do it. So it's good that they've been able to have that opportunity and they'll get better. Of course they will. They'll get more used to the pace of it and how strong you need to be and things like that.

4:32So it's good to see them out there, especially players like Tash who have been here for so long and all-time top scorer, all-time appearance maker to start against Southampton. And I'm sure that must have been a fantastic moment for her as it would have been for the other five players.

4:51Ross Halls:Yeah, definitely. Although I wasn't a fan of her on the wing. Just up top always for me. But I think obviously at the time, Joe was just sort of checking out, seeing what he could do with the team that he had available as well, because there is a few injuries. But yeah, we won't talk too much about the Southampton game because we were there and did a video verdict and all that stuff. So check that out if you haven't already, ladies and gentlemen, that's online. and obviously that was a week or so ago now. But yeah, the big sort of talking point from that game, Tom, though, was the goals conceded because out of the four, three of them were from corners and looting balls in the box and that is something, you know, Joe and the team have sort of improved on from the Nottingham Forest game, but that was sort of a bit of the worry.

5:32Ross Halls:And yeah, you've got to defend corners a bit better. Yeah, you do. I mean, Southampton are a tall side, especially their defender I think her name is Amy Goddard who scored one of the goals she's very tall and you know you could see that from the off but I don't think there's any excuse for one of the goals was at the front post and you know just flicked into the far corner which I think is pretty much one of the first things you learn in football is if a corner is not going to be able to get past the first person, then you clear it and clear your lines. But they didn't do that and they were punished.

6:17They did learn a little bit from it. I know that the goal against Forrest came from a recycled corner, again, a looping ball into the box. So it is something that they do need to work on. And Joe said to me after Southampton that that is something that they will look at because, you know, you can't concede three goals all from high looping balls into the box and keep doing it throughout the season because, you know, teams at this level will punish you for it.

6:52Ross Halls:Yeah, I'm sure that'll be in their team talks every week. Like, hey, it's your talent. I'm not going to defend the corners, but I'm sure talent, as we saw, have improved on it a little bit and that's obviously only one week of trying to work on it as well. So, yeah, that's sort of Southampton. Draw the line after that. That was just a tough start to the season. Not ideal, losing 4-0. And then now they took on Nottingham Forest in their first home game in Colchester, which was still, as I said, feels strange when I was turning up at Colchester, not being in Fiddich there. I was wanting to go into the sweet shop and getting a burger or something.

7:23Ross Halls:But no, we got into Colchester. But good thing, my shout out to Itchwich and Colchester, sort of branding the stadium, first of all, Tom, because that was my sort of worry. It just wouldn't feel like we'd be at home for Itchwich. but it was like an Ipswich badge. There was branding around the stadium. Obviously, town fans in their stand as well. That's a nice sort of takeaway from the game in terms of the stadium. Yeah, definitely. They did a really good job of making it feel like Ipswich Town women's home rather than a ground that they were borrowing. So, yeah, it looked really good. I'm sure the WSL had some part to play as well.

8:05Not sure how they're going to do it because that is a massive task to get rid of all the advertising hoardings, replace them with Colchester United ones and put them in place as well, because obviously some companies will have paid for in front of Canberra. So that must be a massive undertaking. So I don't know how they're going to do that. But fair play. They did make it feel like a home for Ipswich. I have seen some Colchester United fans on Twitter not best pleased with it. and making it feel a little bit not nice. I know that I wouldn't feel very nice if a club came to Portman Road and started putting up all their logos and things around.

8:46But no, they did a really good job and it did look... It took some getting used to, but it did look really good. And the pitch was brilliant as well. It looked like a really good playing surface for the players.

9:02Ross Halls:Yeah, I'm sure Joe's very happy about that. And I'm sure you're happy, Tom, because you've got a press box to work in now as well. Because at Phoenix, though, you had to work in like a hut and you had to sort of look over people. This time around, you've got your own little spot, the table, you know, there's better press boxes in the football league. But in terms of like for yourself to be able to work in a press box and people listen to this, you may not know this situation. But yeah, Tom, it's good for a person who's doing the trippy types and doing a match report to have a nice sort of desk and a seat to work on instead of trying to find out what's going on on the game and running into a hut in Felixstowe.

9:38Ross Halls:So yeah, nice little change there, my friend. Yeah, definitely. I think one of the first things that I said when I sat down was the view was brilliant. I was able to see the entirety of the pitch. There was no floodlight in the way. I wasn't running up and down a sort of stand concourse thing and then back into a hut so that I could charge my laptop. There was charging ports outside, which was great. There was a little press room, which was lovely with tea, which is an absolute godsend, especially yesterday. It was quite cold. I wasn't expecting it to be that cold, but it's an open ground cold, just to say.

10:18Get used to it, mate. I'm dreading December and January, if I'm honest. But no, it was good to have that facility. It does make a big difference. The last game of last season, I think I missed, I'd say probably five or six of the eight goals that were scored because I couldn't see over everyone's heads. But I was able to see everything this game. So yeah, that was lovely.

10:51Ross Halls:definitely my friend and yeah that's a step up and obviously it is a step up for the for the team as well playing against teams who have obviously not in forest as well the team we're going to be speaking about now they have made a lot of signings in the summer and some really big signings i think even joe said in one of the clips we're going to play very shortly that he thinks they're going to be up there this year and that's a that's a bit of a worry in a way because it's like a team that just got promoted with us and he thinks they're going to be up there um but they've obviously put a lot of money in it and they've you know bought some good players in so um yeah Let's actually hear from Joe, now Tom.

11:21Ross Halls:We spoke to him after the game. We've got our Connor Bennett from the BBC to hear his thoughts on the result. So, over to you. Joe, difficult day at the office today. Very narrow defeat. How have you been? My initial reaction is I'm pleased with the progress from last week. The list of areas of improvement off the back of last week was quite long. And that's been reduced, which is positive. and certainly signs of us competing better. Ultimately, still didn't do enough to get something from the game, but pleased with the progress that we've made already since last week. It was a scrappy game at the start of it, and very little to separate the two sides.

12:06Ross Halls:Where do you think your team didn't quite get over the line? Well, we knew we were planning against a really good team. I think they'll be right up there at the end of the season. I think you can see that with the recruitment they've made and their ambitions. So I thought we gave them very little at times and tried to force some unforced errors and tried to tackle in the middle of the pitch and tried to get them on a counter-attack, which I think we'd done perhaps two or three times in the first half. I think Peskett went through, I think, twice. looked like we might have stole something in that moment.

12:45Ross Halls:But yeah, once we went behind, we obviously had to be a bit more proactive about the ball and made some changes and tried to have a little bit more of a go at them and wasn't able really to do enough. But yeah, like I said, it's positive signs off the back of last week's defeat. All right then, Tom, there's Joe Sheehan talking about the game. We're going to hear from Conor Robertson later on, the Istri Town midfielder as well. So look forward to that, ladies and gentlemen. But let's talk about the first half, first of all, Tom, because it was an even start. So Petskett was doing her normal stuff, sort of wanting to impress the home fans for the first time this season at Colchester, doing her normal rewarding down the wing, trying to battle her full back.

13:28Ross Halls:How was your thoughts on that sort of first 30 minutes? Because Tom, what in it? Yeah, I thought it was a very even start. I thought both teams wanted to get off to a good start, obviously, and they sort of cancelled each other out. As you said, Sophie Peskitt got on the ball a lot more and did what every Ipswich fan knows her to do, which is just take on her player, take on her marker. Lucy O 'Brien also got on the ball a lot more and tried to make things happen, which neither of them got on the ball enough at Southampton. you know Sophie Beskett did but only in the second half which is why they they improved and they they did try and make things happen but it just didn't didn't come and then Southampton not Southampton Forest had a spell where they were on top you know Ipswich rode their luck on on probably more than one occasion you know I think if Forest were a little bit more established at this level, they'd have probably taken definitely at least one.

14:41There was an open goal that somehow went into the side netting. And another one where I remember a Forest player just cutting inside and then for some reason not shooting and laying it off terribly to someone who was free in space. But it could have been 2-0 up before half-time but it wasn't. Ipswich held on And, you know, there was a real opportunity then in the second half to go and attack it and do what they did in the first half, but put the ball in the back of the net.

15:14Ross Halls:Yeah, and Nat Negri as well had to make a really good save in that first half. And she gets a lot of praise in this game. She doesn't get the plough match in this one because there's a certain plough I want to talk about later on. But Nat definitely kept us in the game for the most part with some good saves and just sort of being assured and showing her ability in goal. But I'm sure Joe is not happy. You know, you have that team talk at half-time going, you've done well, Gale's done pretty well. And that sort of just gets ripped apart because obviously Nottingham Forest score very early on in the second half.

15:46Ross Halls:It just sort of probably changes his half-time team talk because, yeah, Forest go 1-0 up. yeah um probably the worst time um to concede um you know you want to to keep it level for as long as possible and and you know get get a foothold on it um and then you go and concede i think it was two or three minutes in into the second half and it's again a looping ball recycled corner um not dealt with i think it was a overhead kick that that was skewered um but fell nicely into the path of um garcia uh who lifted it over over negri and that was one nil and um then forest had something to defend um and as you say can probably completely changed what joshie and said at half time to the players um and yeah just a a really awful time to conceive they needed to to hold out for probably at least 10 minutes in that second half um to you know just get out to speed again and have some attacks of their own.

16:53But obviously, when you can see that early on, it really is a blow.

16:57Ross Halls:Yeah, very much so. And is Garcia the player from Spain? And she's played for Real Madrid and won Cats for Spain. I think that's right. I didn't look that up, I'll be honest. I can't pronounce her first name. Don't ask me, mate. No, I'm not going to. But, I mean, she might well have done. Yeah, do you know what? Research for the game. Yeah, she's the one from Real Madrid. So she's on loan from Denver Summit in America, but she did play for Real Madrid. She played 45 times for Real Madrid, 11 goals, and obviously played for Spain. So that's the quality which you're playing against this season. And it gets even more bigger when they play other teams.

17:40Ross Halls:But yeah, the thing Forest have obviously recruited really well. And yeah, at the end of the day, Tam were just beaten by a better team, weren't they, Tom? you know, Town tried to push for an equaliser, but the press was just too good from Forest. And yeah, really, Town were very fortunate not to go to 3-0 down. Depended okay. Negri, of course, was, you know, key part of that. But did you ever feel like Town could get a goal? No, I'll be honest. I didn't think they, as you say, the press was too good. So everything that I think Ipswich tried didn't work. Obviously, they tried playing it around at the back and working their way forward.

18:23It didn't work. They tried long balls up. It didn't work. So I think it was a really, really tough game against probably, as Joe said, probably a team that will be up there because they knew how to do it. And they've clearly got some good players in. over the summer so i didn't think that they were they were going to score um but i mean again they're learning um joe's learning as well obviously never managed at this level so they're all they're all takes positives from both games that they've had so far and and um you know the goals will come um we know that they will because you don't score however many in one season and then not score in the next.

19:15So they will get goals. It may just take a little bit of patience.

19:20Ross Halls:Yeah, very much so. It's what you've got to be, patience. But obviously in this league, you know, a few bad results because there's only 22 games or so, isn't it? 24 games. How many? Yeah, 22 games. There's 12 teams in there. So yeah, it's a learning curve, I'm sure, from Joe Sheehan. team. We're going to hear from Kyle Robertson up next to get her thoughts on the game and the step up as well. So let's hear from Towne's midfielder. Kyle, rough. Difficult start to the season and difficult as up today. Yeah, obviously not what we would have liked the outcome of the game to be. But I definitely think moving on from last week is something we can build on.

20:02Ross Halls:Take some confidence and this league we knew was small margins so if we can, you know, really get tighter on our set pieces and nullify their set pieces and deal with them then we can start building and hopefully getting results in the league. Yeah, Joe was saying about how it's important to show progress each week and there's a big, big step up for the performance from last week so feeling positive about that, you know where do you think this side improved today? I think every area if I'm honest last week at Southampton I think it weren't good enough at all in all aspects this week I think we showed more fight more togetherness I think we were more compact and tactically I think we executed the game plan a lot better than like I said previously I think coming into the league you get told a lot about you know the changes and the step up but you can't really get a feel for it until you're exposed to it so I think each game it's just adapting and we'll get more used to it and we'll be able to build and yeah like I say hopefully the results will start coming as long as we keep making progress.

21:08Ross Halls:Because WSL 2 so far, I mean, it is a physical league, really physical, I thought Forest, you know, their press was unbelievable, they were relentless, and, you know, as a player who's out there, you know, you're always covering the grass everywhere, every level you've been at. How have you found the adjustment? It seems like it's a real big step up. Yeah, like I say, definitely a step up. I think just the intent in which they move the ball, you've got to shift a lot quicker and I think the small margins are these will execute and be clean as well so if you're not there in the split second whereas before you may be able to gamble on the fact that the opposition won't be tidy on the ball now you'll just get punished for it so I think physically it's definitely a step up and something we're adjusting to and I don't think we're far off it I think today we've shown a much better account of ourselves and where we're at so yeah definitely a step up but something I think we're able to adapt to Okay then Tom let's talk then about some positives because I will admit there's not been many from the opening two games unfortunately for the Track to Girls but one player that sort of for me I want to sort of give a praise to and that is Leah Mitchell who's sort of playing out out of position she's still a very young player but from the two games so far I thought she played really well especially against Nighting Forest getting into tackles really battling well.

22:33Ross Halls:Yeah, good to see. Yeah, very good. Player of the match against Forest. And, you know, Joe said after Southampton that he wanted that physicality and, you know, height in the midfield, which is why she started there. Obviously, she's not primarily a midfielder. We, you know, saw her at right back pretty much all of last season. But she's done really, really well. She is very assured on the ball. You know, she picks it up and tries to make things happen. She is strong, you know, tall, and that obviously helps. And, yeah, I've been really impressed by her, especially, you know, someone so young, also never played at this level before.

23:21I don't think she's looked out of place at all in the midfield. so yeah a really positive positive sign from the last two games yeah definitely and especially a

23:33Ross Halls:player that's come through the youth academy so I'm sure Joe's very happy with that player that he's worked with for a long time which is good I want to talk now Tom get the first impressions on the new signings most of them have pretty much made their debut I think there's one or two that have yet to play because they're sort of coming back from injuries but yeah they've been able to come into the team. They've had obviously a tough start, but who's right to start with first? We've got Grace Neville, Bethan Rowe, Paige Peake, Jenna Deere, Maddie Earl and Rihanna Dean. There's also Ruby Doe, but we sort of don't know about her anyway.

24:08Ross Halls:But should we start with Grace Neville, who's playing at right back? Obviously experienced at this level before New Zealand international. Thoughts on her so far? Yeah, she's looked good. I think she had a tough time against Forest because their press was really good. I remember mentioning, I think it was their number 33, closing everything down. You know, every time she looked to go forward, I think the ball was just closed down every single time. So had a little bit of a tough game against Forest, but you don't win this league if you're not a good player. So yeah, she's shown glimpses of what she can do.

24:48And And I look forward to seeing more of her in that right back position, whether she's made that her own or not, or whether Joe's plans to put Leah Mitchell back there and, you know, move Grace elsewhere. Wait to see, but yeah, look forward to seeing more of her.

25:06Ross Halls:Definitely. And she's linking up with Zoe Peskitt as well. I know it's only early days, but it's good to see them having a little bit of a connection against Forest. Beth and Roe, she's at left back. Did she go midfield in this game? I swear she did. so that's another position she can I think play another player that's she knows this league very well and she's going to be heading back to the valley this weekend but yeah she thinks she's done okay so far Yeah, yeah she's done very well she is I thought she was good when she moved into midfield actually on Sunday I thought she looked really positive in that position at left back again it's been a really difficult start for her at town because obviously you know there's a friendly you've conceded five goals in unfortunately two games which you know is never good but from what I've seen from her she does look good she looks like she's able to run up that wing as well which is which is always positive um i think there are a number of times that she got into good crossing positions um on sunday um so yeah again another one that i look forward to seeing more of she'll grow into the team she'll get more used to it and um again you don't make over 100 appearances at this level if you're not good enough um so So, yeah, she'll come good.