Oxford United Women 0 Ipswich Town Women 3
Oxford United's women's team went down 3-0 at home to Ipswich Town in their opening FAWNL South game of the season in controversial circumstances.
Sophie Peskett opened the scoring for the visitors in the 21st minute when her hopeful cross from the right hit the far post before being cleared by Nic Gibson, with the assistant referee on the far side deeming the ball had crossed the line despite the vehement protests from the Oxford players.
Ipswich extended their lead six minutes into the second half when a cross from the left struck an Oxford arm and Lucy O'Brien converted the resulting penalty. Just a few minutes later, Peskett grabbed her second with an emphatic finish to complete the scoring and ensure Ipswich opened their campaign with a win.
It could have been so different for the U's, who opened the game strongly, with Leah Burridge forcing Town keeper Natalia Negri into a good save, although this was matched three minutes later when Oxford's debutant goalie Beth Howard got down well to parry a free kick.
Even at a goal down, Oxford looked to make a game of it and thought they had equalised when a long-range shot from another debutant, Ruby Sealey, smashed against the bar, with Negri possibly getting a touch to the ball on its way through.
The two quick-fire goals at the start of the second half effectively ended the game, but after making a triple change Oxford looked more energised and started troubling the Ipswich back line, alas to no avail.
After the game, United manager Sam Rose expressed his frustration with the result: "I'm not sure the result necessarily reflects the balance of the game," he said. "That said, I think Ipswich had most of the ball and created the vast majority of the opportunities, but for large parts I thought we looked comfortable without the ball, but we're going to have to look more at our in-possession stuff from today, not keeping the ball well enough until after the changes in the 60th minute."
United: Howard, Gibson, Wiseman, Creaney, Wellesley-Smith (Trinder 90), Barratt, Poole (Budaieva 58), Sealey (Cook 58), Gotch, Oliver (King 58), Burridge
Unused subs: Sercombe, Legg, Richardson
Attendance: 321
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Pictures: Darrell Fisher