Lasses Report: A Gritty And Much-Needed Win For Sunderland!

On a cold day in the North East, this was a match that laid bare both Sunderland’s slow but growing resilience and the fine margins that define the WSL.

Ipswich may be anchored to the bottom of the table but they refused to play the role of obliging visitors.

Instead, they pressed, disrupted and very nearly left Eppleton with something to show for their efforts. Ultimately, the day belonged to Sunderland’s substitutes — from Grace Moloney’s late heroics to Izzy Atkinson, whose winning goal on her return from injury felt like a significant and emotional moment.

Sunderland, with captain Brianna Westrup marshalling the back line and Moloney between the sticks, set up with a familiar blend of solidity and attacking intent.

Emily Scarr led the line, supported by the industry and creativity Marissa Sheva, Katy Watson, Katie Kitching and Keira Barry. Jamie Finn provided energy and bite; Greenwood’s experience offered a calm presence at the back, and on the bench sat the game‑changers: Eleanor Dale, Natasha Fenton, Izzy Atkinson and Ellen Jones — all of whom would have a say before the afternoon was done.

Ipswich’s starting eleven was built around captain Bethan Roe, with Rianna Dean leading the attacking threat.

Lucy O’Brien, Grace Neville and Jenna Dear added steel and structure, while the bench included the likes of Shauna Guyatt and Maddy Earl, On paper, this was eleventh versus twelfth, yet on the pitch, that gap was nowhere near as obvious.

From the first whistle, Ipswich made it clear they weren’t simply here to sit back, pressuring Sunderland’s build‑up, closing down passing lanes and forcing errors in possession. Sunderland — perhaps expecting a more passive approach from a side struggling for points — looked slightly rattled.

A few early passes went astray. Ipswich’s willingness to step onto the front foot meant Moloney and her defenders had little time to settle into a rhythm, and the visitors’ enterprise earned its reward midway through the first half.

Sunderland failed to properly clear a move down their left, Ipswich recycled the ball neatly, and when it dropped to Dean in the box, she showed the composure of a striker in form rather than one carrying the burden of a relegation fight.

Her finish was precise; low and beyond Moloney’s reach, finding the corner to give Ipswich a 1–0 lead on nineteen minutes. It was the sort of goal that underlined just how deceptive league tables can be — there was nothing tentative or desperate about it, only conviction.

Going behind seemed to unsettle Sunderland for a spell.

Passes became rushed and touches heavy, whereas Ipswich, buoyed by the lead, grew in confidence. Dean buzzed across the front, probing for space, while O’Brien and Neville supported the play intelligently from deeper areas.

Westrup tried to calm things down at the back but Sunderland’s attempts to build from midfield were consistently disrupted by Ipswich’s work rate and well‑timed pressing. This didn’t look like a bottom‑of‑the‑table side clinging on. It looked like a team believing they could take control of a difficult away fixture.

Sunderland did eventually manage to carve out half-chances as the half wore on.

Scarr found space between the lines a couple of times, Kitching tried to inject some urgency and Watson worked hard down the flank to open up room for a cross or a cutback. Yet Ipswich were disciplined, throwing bodies in the way and closing the door just as it looked like Sunderland might break through.

By the time the referee blew for half time, the sense of frustration among the home fans was palpable. Their team was behind and although the performance had featured flickers of quality, it lacked fluency and composure, and Ipswich deserved their lead.

At the interval, Mel Reay made the kind of bold intervention managers sometimes shy away from — herself includes.

Recognising that Sunderland needed not just fresh legs but a different dynamic, she withdrew Finn and Watson, introducing Dale and Fenton for the second half. The message was clear: Sunderland weren’t going to drift through another forty minutes in the same pattern. Something had to change, and Reay was prepared to force that change.

If Sunderland came out with more intent, Ipswich responded with a different kind of adjustment.

Almost from the restart, there was a noticeable slowing of the tempo whenever the ball went dead. Goal kicks were lingered over, throw‑ins became mini-conferences, and minor knocks were given maximum treatment.

It was the sort of time‑wasting that’s strategic rather than subtle and it did little to endear Ipswich to anyone in the ground — apart from their own bench. The home crowd’s irritation grew, and even neutral observers would have felt the stop‑start rhythm bending the game away from Sunderland’s preferred tempo.

For the Lasses, it was maddening.

Every time they looked to build a sustained spell of pressure, the game was broken up by another pause. Ipswich understood that disrupting Sunderland’s flow was their best chance of protecting the lead; at the same time, Sunderland’s substitutes began to make their presence felt.

Dale offered a more physical focal point up front, occupying defenders and creating space for others to operate in, whereas Fenton’s energy in midfield gave Sunderland a bit more bite and forward thrust, helping them pin Ipswich back for longer stretches.

The second half evolved into a battle of wills as much as tactics.

Ipswich defended deeper and deeper and their attacking forays increasingly rare, while Sunderland probed, albeit without finding the final ball. Scarr — already on a yellow card after a booking early in the half — had to walk a tightrope, whereas Westrup continued to organise and cajole, attempting to prevent the team’s focus from evolving into pure frustration.

Recognising that greater attacking threat was needed, Reay made her most decisive change on sixty seven minutes, bringing on Atkinson for Kitching.

This was a significant moment in itself: Atkinson’s return from injury had been eagerly anticipated and there was a sense in the stands that she might be the one to break Ipswich’s stubborn resistance. Still, no one could’ve predicted quite how quickly and dramatically she would alter the afternoon’s narrative.

Sunderland’s growing pressure finally told as the match ticked into its final quarter and on seventy five minutes, the breakthrough arrived.

A spell of sustained possession saw the ball worked into the Ipswich area, from where Jessica Brown seized her moment.

Having toiled all game against a packed and often cynical defence, she found just enough space to get a shot away, beating the goalkeeper, bringing Sunderland level and sending a wave of relief through the home support. Brown’s equaliser was more than just a goal: it was the triggering of release valve, blowing away the pent‑up tension that had been building since Dean’s opener.

Ipswich, who’d been managing the game expertly from a position of strength, suddenly found themselves under siege.

Sunderland, meanwhile — energised by the goal and buoyed by the momentum — surged forward with renewed conviction. Ipswich’s time‑wasting now had a very different feel, and instead of clever game management, it began to look like desperation.

Just two minutes after Brown’s equaliser, Sunderland struck again, and it was Atkinson who delivered the hammer blow.

Picking up the ball on the left, she drove at the Ipswich defence with the kind of intent that only a player desperate to make up for lost time can show. A quick exchange of passes opened up a sliver of space on the edge of the box and Atkinson pounced, unleashing a fierce strike that flew beyond the keeper and into the back of the net.

For Atkinson, scoring the winner on her return from injury would’ve meant everything.

Goals are always special but there’s a different feel to the ones that come after setbacks. This wasn’t just a crucial contribution in a tight game — it was a statement that she’s back and ready to influence Sunderland’s season again. Her teammates swarmed her in celebration, and you could feel the emotional charge; the sort of moment that can bond a squad even more tightly.

Even at 2-1, the match wasn’t over.

Stung by the quick turnaround, Ipswich tried to rouse themselves for a late response and substitutions followed, with O’Brien making way for Shauna Guyatt just before Sunderland’s comeback, and Grace Neville replaced by Maddy Earl as Ipswich shuffled their pack in search of fresher legs and a route back.

For much of the second half, Moloney had been largely untroubled as Sunderland’s dominance of territory after the break meant Ipswich rarely ventured forward in numbers, but as the clock ticked into the final minutes and Ipswich threw caution to the wind, she was suddenly called upon.

First came a sharp effort from the edge of the area, a low drive that took a deflection and seemed to be sneaking inside the post.

Moloney reacted brilliantly, adjusting her feet and tipping the ball away at full stretch. Moments later, a cross swung in from the right caused chaos, and when the second ball dropped invitingly for an Ipswich forward, Moloney stood her ground, making herself big and blocking the shot from close range.

These weren’t simply routine saves; they were match‑defining interventions and without them, Sunderland might easily have seen their hard‑earned lead disappear.

Deep into stoppage time, with nerves jangling, Reay made one final substitution, bringing on Jones for Barry. It was a move designed to eat precious seconds, to add a bit more energy in the wide areas and help Sunderland see the game out.

The home side managed the closing moments far better than they’d done earlier in the match, keeping the ball when they could, clearing their lines when they had to and trusting Moloney and Westrup to marshal the back line through to the final whistle.

When that whistle finally came, the sense of relief and satisfaction was clear on Sunderland faces.

This had been a battle instead of a procession, and Ipswich had shown they’re nowhere near as weak as their league position suggests, demonstrating organisation, grit and no little quality — particularly in the first half.

Their decision to resort to time‑wasting so early in the second half will leave a sour taste for some, but it also underlines how seriously they took the challenge. They came to frustrate and very nearly succeeded.

For Sunderland, the win feels bigger than the three points, moving the Lasses towards the middle of the table and avoiding the damaging loss of momentum that a home defeat to a bottom‑placed side could’ve caused.

In a league as tight as WSL2, where a run of results can launch or derail a campaign, coming from behind to win matches like this is the mark of a side that maybe — just maybe — is starting to show some fight.

The manner of the victory will also please Reay.

Her substitutions weren’t cosmetic — they changed the entire complexion of the game. Dale and Fenton shifted the balance of midfield and attack, Atkinson provided the decisive cutting edge, and Jones helped to close things out. It was a match that showcased the value of the squad as a whole, not just the starting eleven, and that depth will be crucial once the season resumes.

Sunderland now head into the winter break with confidence and clarity. They’ve shown they can grind out results on days when performance is patchy and they’ve also welcomed back a key player in Atkinson. The table will not be decided in December, but these sorts of hard‑earned wins can loom large come the spring.

That said, this result shouldn’t gloss over the wider issues Sunderland have faced this season.

Despite the goals and the eventual turnaround, the Lasses looked vulnerable for long stretches, and in truth, the performance up until the equaliser was — in the kindest terms — weak, pathetic and deeply frustrating to fans who simply wanted to see some fight.

The lack of urgency, cohesion and bite in the first hour was alarming, and while the three points were vitally important, no matter how they came, the expectation now must shift from just results to performances. We can’t simply rely on late rallies and individual brilliance to bail us out every time, and are never guaranteed — especially when we’re still falling short of our free‑flowing best.

For Ipswich, there was pain in defeat but also something to cling to.

If they can bottle the intensity and organisation they showed here whilst cutting out the more negative elements of their game management, they will not remain marooned at the bottom for long. For long stretches, they looked like a side capable of troubling anyone in the division.

When league season restarts, Sunderland will hope to build on this result and use it as a springboard for a sustained push up the table.

For now, they can take a breath, enjoy a well‑deserved rest and reflect on a match that turned from frustration to elation, sealed by the sweetest of winners from a player who’s waited a long time to feel that rush again.