Charlotte Healy's Bristol City Women climbed up to second in the WSL 2 with their 7-0 win over Ipswich Town at Ashton Gate
George Townsend
16:11, 10 Nov 2025
Bristol City Women’s head coach Charlotte Healy was left “delighted” by her team’s win over Ipswich Town, with the Robins head coach feeling her side have now “set a standard" with their display at Ashton Gate.
City extended their unbeaten run in the WSL 2 to four games with their 7-0 win over the Tractor Girls, as Sophie Ingle, Rio Hardy, Lexi Lloyd-Smith, Maria Farrugia, and Isabel Hebard all managed to get on the scoresheet for Healy’s side.
The Reds took an early lead, much like in their previous fixture against Sunderland, with strikes from Ingle, Hardy, and Lloyd-Smith seeing them three goals to the good after just 14 minutes, before Maria Farrugia added a fourth before half-time. Hardy and Ingle secured braces after the break before academy graduate Hebard scored her first goal for the club in stoppage time.
“[I’m] delighted with so much of today to be honest,” Healy explained after the full-time whistle. “[The] performance, goalscorers, attitude. It’s very easy to take your foot off the gas, but we can’t do that; we have to be at our very best for as close to ninety minutes as we can, so we’ve set a standard today, and we have to make sure that we continue to reach that.
“There are things that we want to tidy up and things that we can be a little bit better with, but as days go, there’s a lot to be pleased with today.”
The Robins made a ruthless start to the game, as Ingle headed the Reds in front within seven minutes, following Camila Saez’ inswinging corner.
Saez was involved again in City’s second, as she found Farrugia, whose cross into the centre of the box was swept in by Hardy, before Lloyd-Smith added a third two minutes later with a well-taken finish past Ipswich goalkeeper Natalia Negri.
The visitors came close to pulling a goal back after a teasing cross towards the far post from Jenna Dear, but Saez made a crucial intervention to put the ball behind for a corner. Farrugia then made it 4-0 before the break following a marauding run from Emily Syme, as her shot from just inside the box found the top right corner, despite a touch from Negri.
Ipswich had another dangerous moment just before the break as Grace Neville forced Bentley into a smart stop, before the ball nearly fell to Rianna Dean on the rebound. However, she was unable to react in time and the chance was dealt with by the City defence.
Mari Ward came close shortly after the restart, as her shot rattled off the post and almost bounced in on the rebound, though it instead flashed across the goal before going out of play.
City got their fifth soon after as Lloyd-Smith drifted a cross towards Ingle at the far post, whose initial header was saved before she tapped home on the rebound.
The Robins then threatened again soon after when a ball over the top caused problems for the Ipswich backline, with Hardy seeing her shot cleared off the line. After three crucial interventions from the Tractor Girls, Marine Dafeur eventually fired wide.
Following the subsequent goal kick, Hardy capitalised on an error at the back from Paige Peake and poked home when faced one-on-one with the goalkeeper to score her second goal of the game.
The visitors had a few chances from there as Neville forced Bentley into a save in the 63rd minute following a driving run down the right, before Natasha Thomas got in behind Sille Struck, but the City stopper again did well to cut down the angle and watch the ball go out for a corner.
Hardy came close to a hat-trick late on, as she narrowly nodded a header over the bar following a Syme free-kick, though Hebard extended the lead to seven in injury time after her strike found the back of the net following a well-weighted cross from Lia O’Leary, much to the delight of Healy.
“It’s really pleasing,” the City boss said, “What’s important when you’re not in the starting 11 that if you come on and you get an opportunity, you have to take it and I thought they [O’Leary and Hebard] both did well today to combine for the goal and you see the celebration, these days are so important for players.
“[The] first goal for Issi is something that we can all be really proud of and [we’re] happy for her, so a really good day for us today,” she added.
The victory sees the Robins climb up to second in the WSL 2 table ahead of Birmingham City’s fixture against Nottingham Forest on Monday evening. Now, next weekend’s trip to top-of-the-table Charlton Athletic is the Reds’ final league game before the international break.
“We’ve scored a lot of goals over the two games so far in this block,” Healy remarked, “The best way to see this block out is to get a result against Charlton, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re at it this week, we train really well and we’re as prepared as we can be for what will be a tough test.
“I feel like this has been really good prep for us the last two games going into Charlton, and we’re full of confidence, which is always a good place to be.”