'Fearless' Tractor Girls' Paige Peake fancy chances in historic West Ham FA Cup clash at Felixstowe

By Derek Davis

19th Mar 2022 | Local News

Ipswich Town's women may be very much the underdogs when they take on West Ham in their FA Cup quarter final on Sunday but Paige Peake is confident their unity and youthful exuberance can help them pull off a giant killing shock.

The Tractor Girls are currently riding high at the peak of the National League South table with just one loss in 20 league games but take on Women's Super League West Ham who are two divisions above them.

That doesn't faze Paige and her tight unit of teammates, with 17 of the 20 woman squad, coming through Towns academy together.

"We're all quite fearless." said Peake. "We're not in this competition to make up the numbers. We want to try and progress as far as we can.

"You see upsets in the men's cup all the time. You don't see it so much in the women's FA Cup. Hopefully we can buck that trend.

"We're a very close-knit team. We're all young and a lot of us have played together a long time. I've played with two of the girls since I was nine years old.

"We've grown up together, shared all the downs and the ups, so that makes all the success we're having all the more special.

"There's no-one putting their personal goals ahead of the team's. We've all got the same collective ambition, we're all pulling together as one and we all know that at some point each of us is going to make a difference across the season."

Although a centre back, Peake is not a goals shy defender with 18 finishes in 50 games, and she was one of fur players successful from the spot in the penalty shot out to beat Southampton at the Goldstar Ground in the last round.

She feels the Blues have a enough to surprise the big girls, and while keeping the Hammers at bay is her main job, she is looking forward to have a crack herself.

"West Ham scored late against Manchester United recently," said Peake. "They're competing against the big teams in the WSL, they're not a small team, so it will definitely be a hard task.

"It's up to us to try and our-work them, out-run them, maintain their pace and, hopefully, beat them.

"We've got pace. Our wing-backs and forwards are quick. Hopefully we can get behind their back line and put them under pressure that way.

"I wouldn't mind a few free-kicks and the penalty area.

"Set-pieces might be our best opportunity to score because we're quite aware that clear cut chances are probably going to be few and far between against a side like West Ham."

Although a final at Wembley is within two games, Ipswich's women have not lost focus on their league ambitions and manager Joe Sheehan emphasised the importance of promotion, and with just one team going up, there is no margin for error.

"We are trying to get into the Championship," said Sheehan. "We've all very conscious of what promotion could do for our careers. It could be huge for all of us. It would be life changing actually.

"So the league has always been our focus and the cup run has kind of been a bonus.

"If anyone has been distracted by it then it's probably been me. Which is a testament to the players really.

"They are so committed to the league campaign and it's no surprise to me that our league results and performances have remained really good since the West Ham draw came out."

Felixstowe to be on journey with Tractor Girls.

     

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