Hayley Barton’s superb solo effort in stoppage time broke Ipswich Town hearts as the sides were forced to share the spoils after a 2-2 draw at Mile End Stadium in the FA Women’s National League.
Zoe Cossey gave the Tractor Girls a 10th-minute lead after coolly tucking the ball past Orient goalkeeper Naomi Ogunde, before Paige Wakefield took advantage of some poor marking to nod home the visitors’ second shortly after the restart.
Despite the deficit, Orient remained positive and got stronger as the second half progressed. On 81 minutes, Egle Trezzi fired a sensational long-range free kick into the top corner hauling the O’s back into contention.
With the seconds ticking down, Barton gathered the ball on the left side before drifting infield and nestling a precise effort into the far corner, sparking jubilant scenes amongst the Orient faithful.
Sloppy Start
Despite a bright opening, the O’s quickly found themselves on the back foot. With one swift turn and a composed finished, Orient were chasing the game as Cossey edged the visitors’ noses in front.
There was an unrecognisable lack of quality and conviction on Orient’s part during the first half. They failed to ask any severe questions of Ipswich goalkeeper Sian Fagg, while their decision making was proving poor in the final third.
Orient would have been grateful that they went into the break trailing by only a single goal.
Speaking to Rising East, goal scorer Barton highlighted areas of their game that needed addressing during the half-time interval:
“I don’t think we were playing the shape we wanted to play. We needed a bit more discipline all over the pitch. We needed to take our chances, the easier chances, as well as communicating and keeping our discipline and shape. We acknowledged that, we changed it for the second half, and really started to grab the game by the horns a bit more.”
Dangerous Deficit
After an opportunity to re-group at the break, the second half could not have started any worse for the O’s. Some poor marking from a corner allowed Wakefield to attack the cross, guiding the ball past Ogunde to double the visitors lead.
Orient were facing an uphill task, but had proven before Sunday that falling behind would not deter them. They trailed 2-1 against Actonians Ladies in their previous league game, coming back to win that match 3-2 in stoppage time.
At two-goals down, Barton talked about qualities within the team which have contributed to these fight backs:
“We know we can play so much better and we know we should be getting results from these games. We don’t want to let ourselves down. We are strong individually but we’re also strong as a team and can play for each other. We know we deserve to come away from these games with three points, but at the moment that’s not quite happening.
“We’re really able to dig deep but we need to do that from the start of games moving forward, and that’s something we are going to be working really hard on. It’s a positive as it shows our fighting spirit, mentality, and it can only be a good thing.”
Great Escape
As the clock ticked into the final 10 minutes, Orient had grown significantly into the game and were forcefully banging on the door of the Ipswich defence. They created a relentless wave of pressure which would soon pay off.
After winning a free-kick midway inside the Ipswich half, many would have been expecting a teasing cross into the penalty area. However, Trezzi had other ideas and lashed a powerful strike towards goal which kissed the woodwork and settled in the top corner of the net.
In the closing stages, the O’s created several chances and it appeared as though it wasn’t going to fall for them on this occasion. However, time seemed to stop momentarily when the ball left Barton’s boot and was buried into the bottom corner to snatch a vital point for Orient on home turf.
Raising The Bar
With such character in the squad, Barton spoke about what the team could potentially achieve this season:
“We’d still love to win the league. We believe we’ve got the individuals and the team quality to do that. The league is really open this year, there are a lot of good teams and the standard has definitely gone up from last season.
“We’re still in the mix and we need to aim high. It’s about competing with every team, going out each week competing against them and trying to get the three points. As long as we are improving each week, we’ve got to be happy with that.”
Next week, the O’s return to Mile End Stadium where Enfield Town Ladies are the visitors in the FA Women’s National League, with kick-off at 2pm.
