Lenna Gunning-Williams on lpswich loan: “It has come at the perfect time”

Lenna Gunning-Williams is relishing her experience at FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division side Ipswich Town so far this season.

It’s fair to say the young forward has enjoyed her time in Suffolk in the opening six months, registering 14 goal involvements (nine goals and five assists) in 12 games, helping the club to fourth in the table and 11 points behind league leaders Hashtag United, but having played three games less than The Tags.

After signing her first professional contract in the summer, this is Lenna’s first exposure of senior football on a regular basis and she feels it has been a beneficial experience so far.

“It’s going really well,” Lenna said. “I think it has come at the perfect time for how old I am and how it’s my first season as a professional, so going to a club like Ipswich Town on loan at the start of the season was really beneficial for my development.

“I’m having to play against senior players, which has been important. I think for a long time, I didn’t realise how different academy football was to senior football and, even at tier three level, I have faced new challenges each week, playing against bigger and faster opponents than me. However, it’s just about adapting to the situation, and I think you can only do that with the exposure of senior football.”

The nine goals for The Tractor Girls sees her currently sat as their joint-second leading goalscorer this season – with five of those in the FAWNL and four in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, including netting in their 3-0 win over Barclays Women’s Championship side Lewes Women in the previous round – but, as any striker would say, she is targeting more goals for the second half of the campaign.

“The striker in me wants 12 goals in 12 games,” Lenna jokingly said. “But I will take it and there’s still half of the season left to go, so more time to score even more goals.

“However, the physical aspect has been a difference to academy football. I think in academy football, there would be times where I wouldn’t have the best game, but I still might come out with a goal or two.

“But, if you have a bad performance at this level, you can tell as there’s less goal contributions, so it’s about being 100% week in, week out, and that is something you could get away with in academy football, but you can’t do that in the senior game.”

With the second half of the season set to get back underway after the festive break, the young forward has set her targets for the rest of the campaign.

“I think the most ideal scenario would to be help Ipswich get promoted. Since I have joined the club, I had a real bond with the players and staff there, so getting promoted would be great.

“As a personal target, it would be just to keep scoring goals and keep developing, and then come back to Spurs as a senior player after leaving in the summer as an academy player.”

Under the terms of her loan, Lenna will continue to train with us on certain days of the week alongside her training and matchday commitments with Ipswich.