On Saturday 18th April, whilst many were getting ready for the Leyton Orient Club day and the lap of honour at Brisbane Road during the home game against Rotherham, many of our finest Leyton Orient Walking FC Women travelled to Great Baddow High School for the second Essex League tournament of the season. It was a beautiful sunny day and with the games due to finish about 13:15, some hoped to get back to E10 in time for the fixture’s kick-off.

This weekend is the anniversary of losing our dear teammate Mary, so we are dedicating our games to her and her family.

The squad for the day was:
Chris Williams (GK), Sally Jones, Debbie Lewzey (Manager), Clare Kavanagh, Andree Selner (Vice-Captain), Clare Nwofor, Ann Matthews, Sam Baker (Captain), and Alison Kay.

The opening game was against the league leaders Billericay Town Blues. The referee, perhaps swayed by the very vocal coach who was previously at Cheshunt, gave Orient several ‘personal warnings’, yet appeared to be more lenient towards Billericay who received none. Nevertheless, Billericay are a strong physical team and are league leaders. They had beaten us by two goals in our last meeting.
It was end to end with saves from Williams, some good defensive blocks and some well worked passing; in particular one move through Kavanagh, Baker and Jones only for the latter's shot to be saved by the Billericay keeper. Orient were positive in play pushing towards goal but on one occasion was left short at back and Billericay was able to split the defense with an extra attacking player and score.
Result: 1-0 Billericay.

We faced Harlow Town Pirates Reds for our second game. The game started evenly and Orient had an early opportunity but lost momentum when play was stopped briefly due to a Harlow player slipping over. Shots from Selner and Lewzey went wide, some good blocks by our defenders with some saves from Williams. Orient kept up the pressure following a tactical substitution but despite further shots including from Baker and Jones, the game ended in a goalless draw. Result: 0-0

Next up, Orient played Hawkwell. An early shot from Nwofor was saved but Hawkwell immediately responded with a shot and scored. Orient heads didn’t go down and there were shots that were wide of the mark from Nwofor and Selner. Hawkwell equally had shots blocked, sent wide, or saved by Williams. Jones had a couple of attempts at goal. And a shot following a good pass and move between Kavanagh-Baker-Kavanagh was just wide of the upright. Both teams continued to press. But it was Orient who managed to score the second goal of the game with passing again between Baker and Kavanagh in a fairly even match.
Result: 1-1 (Kavanagh)

Game four was against Valley Green Diamonds. The woodwork got in the way of shots from both Jones and Nwofor. Each keeper had shots to save but the Orient defence held and the Valley Green keeper had more work than Williams with shots from Nwofor and Kavanagh. It was Jones however who got the eventual winning shot with a pass from Kavanagh.
Result: 1-0 Orient (Jones).

The final game of the day was against Beacon Hill Rovers. Orient piled on the pressure from the start with good passing from defence through midfield and shots from Nwofor and Kavanagh. Counter attacks from Beacon Hill were mostly snuffed out by the Orient defence and Williams was only called into action a couple of times. There was some excellent passing and movement demonstrated by Orient in this last match and Kavanagh intercepted a pass out from the Beacon Hill keeper, passing then to Nwofor who scored the first goal. On another interception Kavanagh planted the ball in the net herself. The game got a little messy at one point however. But the third goal was a real team reward - movement and passing involving many of the players with Nwofor scoring the eventual winner.
Result: 3-0 Orient (Nwofor 2, Kavanagh).

Orient gained a further eight points from the day’s games and only conceded two goals in total. This confirmed our position as third in the league, extending the gap between third and fourth, and improving our goal difference.
Some of the players did make it back to Brisbane Road for the Club day but must have been disappointed with the home team’s performance as they lost to Rotherham.
Full Squad -:
Chris Williams (GK), Sally Jones, Debbie Lewzey (Manager), Clare Kavanagh, Andree Selner (Vice-Captain), Clare Nwofor, Ann Matthews, Sam Baker (Captain), and Alison Kay.
Results -:
Leyton Orient 1-0 Billericay
Harlow Town Pirates 0-0 Leyton Orient
Hawkwell 1-1 Leyton Orient
Valley Green Diamonds 0-1 Leyton Orient
Beacon Hill 0-3 Leyton Orient
Goalscorers:
Kavanagh 2, Nwofor 2, Jones 1.
Match Report by Debbie Lewzey