Leyton Orient Walking FC Women’s team opened up their 2024 campaign with a visit from their friends at Steppers. Steppers have a close relationship with the Orient team with four of their players under contract to Orient for League games. The game was at Wadham Lodge and played in the ealry stages of storm Isha.

Orient lined up with Williams in goal, defensive duties shared by Lewzey, Kay, Jones, Hyatt and Ireland. Selner and Dowling in midfield and Ahlstrom and Baker up front. The games were to be refereed by that excellent whistler, Trevor Ridley.

The session consisted of four twenty minute games. The first game was a tight affair. Both teams were full of energy and defences were on top. Orient defended well and Ahlstorm got free a couple of times to fire in a shot but no goals. Final score: Leyton Orient 0 v 0 Steppers.

Game two opened with Ahlstrom hitting the bar, then the dangerous Glenys James of Steppers turned the Orient defence and shot home to put Steppers in the lead. Orient came back, some excellent interplay between Ahlstrom and Dowling was let down by the final pass. Orient got the equaliser in the second half, when a quick kick in by Lewzey enabled Selner to blast home. Neither team could quite get the composure to find a finish and the game ended all square. Final score: Stepper 1 v 1 Leyton Orient (Selner).

The third game saw Orient finaly step up, passes found the intended players, the marking and pressing became tighter. In each half, Jones and Kay did a close marking job on the Steppers star player, James, stopping her dominating the game. Orient got off to a quick start when Baker turned her marker, and put a great shot into the top corner. The evidence was captured by her daughter on her phone!! Ahlstrom then went on a mazy dribble through the Steppers defence to put Orient two up. Orient then comfortably saw the game home. Final score: Steppers 0 v 2 Leyton Orient (Baker, Ahlstrom).

The final game of the day saw Orient rampant against a tiring Steppers team. A Baker free kick was slammed home by Selner. Then a high press led to Ahlstrom taking advantage of defensive ditherining to put Orient two up. Another Selner sizzler into the top corner saw Orient home comfortably. Final score: Steppers 0 v 3 Leyton Orient (Selner 2, Ahlstrom).

As the afteroon wore on, Orent improved. Manager Cheston, was full of praise for the display. He commented “After a shaky start, the team took time to adapt from the tight pitches at the Score to the wider Wadham pitches. It took time to realise they had a bit more time. Keeper Willams kept three clean sheets and pulled off some good stops, her distribution was excellent throughout. With the exception of one period, Orient’s defensive discipline was excellent. The midfield and front players worked hard and once they found their shooting boots, the goals came. Our thanks to Steppers for coming over to Wadham. A big thank you to Trevor for refereeing and for keeping his blue cards in his pocket.”

Leyton Orient squad: Chris Wlliams, Sherrille Hyatt, Sally Jones, Alison Kay, Debbie Lewzey, Andrea Ireland, Andree Selner, Lynda Dowling, Sam Baker, Jo Ahlstrom.

Goal scorers: Selner 3, Ahlstrom 2, Baker.

© Copyright 2024 Leyton Orient Walking FC
Image used © 2024 Sam Baker

Location

Wadham Lodge Sports Ground, Kitchener Rd, London E17 4JP, UK