Midfielder Kyra Robertson is set to lead out Ipswich Town Women at Portman Road on Sunday hoping to inspire young girls like her little sister who will walk alongside her.
Chasing promotion into the FA Women’s Championship, the second tier of the game in England, Ipswich Town have their destiny in their own hands. Three points behind leaders Hashtag United in the FA Women’s National League South, they play the first of their two games in hand against Plymouth Argyle on Sunday. The match will be only the second time the Ipswich Town Women’s side have played at the club’s main Portman Road stadium.
Last season, the club defeated Chatham Town 5-0 in their first-ever match at the ground. They were watched by a club record crowd of 10,173. With four days to go, sales this time have already exceeded 8,000 and confidence is high that last season’s figure will be surpassed in a game the club must win to stay on course to achieve their long-held ambition of promotion.
The team would have been led out on Sunday by club captain, Maria Boswell. However, an injury sustained in their first league defeat of the season away to Hashtag United two weeks ago means that she will be unavailable this weekend. In her place, the armband has been worn by Boswell’s housemate, Robertson, who captained them to successive victories away at AFC Wimbledon and Gwalia United.
The 22-year-old will therefore lead out Ipswich Town on Sunday. Holding her hand as she walks out will be her little sister, who will be her own personal mascot in the pre-match line-up. Robertson, who comes from a family of Ipswich Town supporters, admitted it will be a special moment. “It’s definitely something that my family will be very proud of. Obviously, I’m gutted for Bos, not to be able to contribute to the occasion, but I’d like to think I can follow in her footsteps and be that leader that the team needs in the game.”
Initially it was feared that Boswell had suffered a season-ending injury but head coach Joe Sheehan holds out hope his captain will return to lead them in the final weeks of the campaign. Robertson revealed how concerned she was at the time. “I would say I was worried for her. It’s kind of one of them, you hope for the best and maybe prepare for the worst.”
“We definitely tried to give her an element of reality, of what potentially it could be, while supporting her and hoping that it wasn’t serious. I know, as the captain, she’s really behind us and she’ll do everything she can on the day, and preparing for the week, to get behind the girls and make sure we know we’re supported by her.”
Robertson grew in the Norfolk seaside town of Great Yarmouth but recalls being taken to Portman Road to watch her first Ipswich Town game as a child. “Thinking back, my mum always says I was two, so I was really young. I think I sat up in the stands and she said I was glued to the game, I wasn’t distracted. I really enjoyed it I think.”
Despite that experience, she was soon tempted to follow another club growing up. “I can’t say I was a Town fan myself,” she reveals. “My brothers were but I was a Manchester United fan. One of my heroes was Cristiano Ronaldo. I think that just looking at work ethic alone, it’s probably one of the reasons why he is one of the best in the world. I’d definitely say he’s someone I looked up to.”
Robertson told me that Boswell has been giving her some unlikely advice on how to captain the side. “It’s funny you ask that actually – she’s known for being very good at winning the toss. So every week, before the game – on the day – I actually ask her to call ‘heads’ or ‘tails’. That’s something I’ve given her, maybe it makes her feel a bit more involved as well. And also, maybe, I don’t want to lose it myself! So I still put the pressure on her, and she’s won both of them so far. That’s something that I give to her.”
In midfield, Robertson will be playing alongside the highly-rated 19-year-old Ruby Doe, on loan from West Ham United for the second half of the season Doe also played most of last season for Ipswich Town, herself coming on during the Portman Road match.
Robertson told me how much the young Doe has developed in the intervening period. “This season she’s playing a bit of a different role. She was probably more of an attacking player for us last year. Whereas, this season she’s kind of slotted in beside me, a bit more defensive.”
“I know Ruby will go through anyone whenever she needs to so it’s nice to know that you’ve got someone alongside you who will put the same will, and the same fight, that you will into every challenge. She runs hard. I think she’s grown as a player, she’s a lot more composed. I know she can control a game as well. It’s really nice having her back in and alongside me.”
Robertson played the full ninety minutes of the victory over Chatham Town last season and has great memories of the occasion. “It was a great day, obviously first time playing at Portman Road. I wasn’t fully sure on what to expect in terms of crowd etc. But I know this town really supports the club as a whole, it’s not just the men’s team. At Felixstowe (their regular home ground) we get a good crowd.”
“It was just before the game, we were sat in the changing room getting ready and (CEO) Mark Ashton came in. He broke the news that we’d hit 10,000. For all of us, we couldn’t really believe it if I’m honest. Then walking out, obviously we could hear the crowd, it was amazing. To top it off with the 5-0 win as well, it was something that we were really happy with.”
She described that defining moment at the start of the game last season which made everyone appreciate the magnitude of the stage they were playing on. “When Pesk (Sophie Peskett) was driving down the wing, as she does every week, all you could really here was everyone kind of getting on their feet, getting behind her and yeah, I think it was a good start for us and it really helped us going forward.”