Harlow Town Ladies’ FA Cup dream came to an end with a crushing 9-2 defeat at home against Ipswich Town in the first round.

Ellie Manning and Georgia Box were on target for Town, but those goals were ultimately nothing more than consolations with Georgia Allen netting a hat-trick, Natasha Thomas and Eloise King bagging a brace each, and Sophie Peskett and Abbie Lafayette also pitching in with one apiece.

The Tractor Girls were two up inside eight minutes with Thomas heading the visitors ahead in only the fifth minute before Allen made it 2-0 with her first of the afternoon just two minutes later.

She would not have to wait long to bag her second either which came on the quarter of an hour mark when she made the most of a mistake by the Harlow keeper shortly after King had added goal number three.

However, any sense that the game was going to be too east was soon challenged by Harlow, who halved the deficit.

First Manning headed in from a corner to pull one back, before Box made the most of a sloppy Ipswich backpass before firing over the goalkeeper to make it 4-2.

That, however, was as close as Town came to catching their opponents, who promptly set about putting the game as far beyond the hosts as possible.

First King completed her brace with a goal just after the half hour mark, before Allen completed her hat-trick with a curling effort from outside the box.

Ipswich were looking ruthless at this point and when Peskett bagged a seventh, shortly followed by the eighth from Lafayette before the half-time whistle, Harlow might have been forgiven for fearing the worst after the restart.

Nevertheless they emerged and played on honourably, with Thomas’s second of the match the only goal to come in the second half.