Latest news with #MariaBoswell
BBC News
28-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ipswich Town Women exhilarated with promotion to Championship
Ipswich Town expressed their exhilaration after being promoted to the second tier of women's football. Town took an 8-0 victory against Cheltenham Town during their final game of the Women's National League Southern Premier season at their home ground in season, the Tractor Girls will compete in the Championship, which begins in September. Town captain and defender, Maria Boswell, said the success had been a whole team effort. "There is still a core group of us that have been here through all the highs, all the lows, quite a lot of lows sometimes that sometimes seemed quite hard to get out of," she said."We've had so many good people come in this year and join our team, and it's down to them, it's down to the ones who have been here so long."Midfielder Lucy O'Brien added that she could not put the promotion into words."There are so many emotions going on right now," she explained."I'm so proud to be part of this team, so happy. It's been an incredible season and it's a special day." Manager Joe Sheehan said the promotion had involved "a lot of hard work" over a long period of time."There's always been an expectation to do it, and that expectation has weighed really heavy at times," he said."[I'm] delighted that we've finally been able to achieve something that we worked so hard [on] for so long... I'm absolutely thrilled to finally get it done." Sheehan said he felt a huge amount of gratitude and appreciation for the people behind the scenes at the club who had "persevered" with the team over the years. "I'm looking forward to what the next few days will look like, really reflect, really celebrate and then prepare for what is going to be a really challenging but exciting journey next," he added. Fans were similarly left ecstatic by the Thomas, whose sister is forward Natasha Thomas, said it was "amazing" to see her sister's achievement."Seeing her do all of this is amazing, and all the girls have absolutely smashed it," she said."[Natasha] needs to keep pushing, she's not stopped, she's not going to stop."Another fan, Karin Nurdy from Ipswich, added it meant a lot to see Town "get what they finally deserve". Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
25-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ipswich Women look forward to promotion party
Ipswich Town captain Maria Boswell will see a four-year dream become reality when they finally seal promotion to the second tier of women's play their final game of the Women's National League Southern Premier season against Cheltenham Town at Felixstowe on they go into it three points clear of rivals Hashtag United and with a goal difference which is superior by made the title all but certain by beating MK Dons 11-0 two weeks ago, and Boswell, 22, told BBC Radio Suffolk: "We've worked so hard throughout the season, something would have to go severely wrong for things not to go our way on Sunday."We allowed ourselves a little bit of time to take it all in - you don't get opportunities like this very often, to enjoy a promotion to the Championship, so when we realised what we'd done we took a moment to appreciate it and enjoy it."But we are very aware that we've still got one game to go and we want to win that game - we don't want to win the league on goal difference, we want to do it on points." Ipswich have won 16 of their 21 matches this season, losing only twice, and have scored 81 goals in the process, 26 more than any other season has been disrupted by a knee injury but she was able to be involved against MK Dons."The knee's feeling good, feeling strong. I've had about three weeks of training now," she said."At that moment, I thought that was it, season done. Even going into next season I was questioning that but had my scan pretty quick, got the results of that which was very good news, but it was still in question whether I'd be able to get back for the end of the season."It was upsetting at the time but I made it my mission to do everything I could to get back, and I managed to do it for the last two [games]. I'm very pleased with how the recovery and the rehab went."Sunday's match at the Martello Ground in Felixstowe is a 2,150 sellout and Ipswich are hoping for a noisy atmosphere."I've been at the club for six years, in and around the first team for about four years and every single year I've thought about what this day could be like," added Boswell."What the feeling's going to be like of arriving, seeing so many people, lifting the trophy - I've thought about it a lot and I know it's going to live up to those expectations and those dreams that I had."It's a sellout crowd - hopefully everyone brings the noise, brings the atmosphere and just has a really good day celebrating and enjoying the moment."
BBC News
04-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ipswich Women's first league defeat must be 'blip'
Ipswich Town boss Joe Sheehan has urged his team to treat their first league defeat of the season as a "blip" as they look to secure promotion this Town lost 1-0 to leaders Hashtag United in Women's National League Southern Premier - but although they are now six points behind, they do have three games in hand. The club made a series of signings last summer with the aim of taking the first step towards the Women's National League, promotion to the second-tier one side will go up from their division and Ipswich have seven games remaining to try and overhaul Hashtag, starting with a trip to AFC Wimbledon on are, though, waiting for a fitness report on captain Maria Boswell, who was stretchered off in the second half against Hashtag at Canvey Island FC."The outcome of the season wasn't determined by this, it was just another game to try and pick up points," Sheehan told BBC Radio Suffolk."We just have to keep our focus, accept that we were beaten, stick together, reflect really well as we always try and do, and come back in for a good week of work that will help us try and beat Sunday's opponents."If we want to achieve something, we have to ensure that it's only a blip and we respond really well to it."He added: "The possibility of being without Bos would be quite damaging, she plays such an important role for us. We hope it's not too serious, but we shall see."With four games left to play, the maximum number of points Hashtag can achieve is they do so, Ipswich would need 19 from their final seven to be certain of promotion, although they have a superior goal their final seven games, only three are at home, including the final fixture of the season, against Cheltenham Town.
