On Sunday, 19 April, on a bright and warm day, the women’s team travelled to Cheshunt for the second fixture of the Herts league. The games were to be played 14 mins straight through. After a disappointing start in our first fixture, only having gained two points and being 5th in the league, we had a lot of work to do.
There were a few battle scars and tiredness from the day before, as the majority of the team had also played in the Essex league. But of course, this was no problem for the warriors that we are. And we were ready!
As also mentioned in the Essex report, this weekend’s fixtures were dedicated in memory of our teammate Mary Mullins and to her family.
Our first game was against Luton Town Orange. Our last match against them saw us have a 2 – 0 advantage, only for us to end up losing it by 3 – 2, after a late surge by Luton. We were determined for this not to happen again. The game was end to end. We had some shots which were either sent wide, blocked, or saved. The same at our end. Our defence stood strong, and many of Luton’s shots were blocked or saved by keeper Williams.
Result – Orient 0 – 0 Luton Town Orange
Our second game was against Chesham, who have won the league title for the past two years and are currently in second place in the league. We always expect this to be one of the tougher games of the day. The game was evenly matched and was end to end. Our defence were great at keeping Chesham at bay, and any shots on target were saved by keeper Williams. Then, a great assist by Clare K to Clare N at the Chesham end resulted in a great shot being sent into the back of the net. LO 1 – 0 up! Could this finally be our day of beating them. We had only beaten them once before, last season, and that was due to the fact that they had scored an own goal. The ref we had for this game was very hot on running, and this was good for us, as many of the teams we play are often not pulled up for running offences, and contributes to our losses. Chesham then committed a fourth running offence, LO penalty. Sam B bravely stepped up to take the penalty. The pressure at maximum as this would give us a 2 – 0 lead. Sam B struck the ball with power and confidence, the strike beating the Chesham keeper. Now we were in command of the game. The final whistle was blown, we had done it. We had beaten Chesham. What a great start to the day.
Result – Chesham 0 – 2 Orient (Sam B & Clare N)
Next up were our friends North London. This game is always played in good spirit. The opposition are a great team, and the game was quite even. Both teams had a few shots, but none created a lead for either team. Then a great ball from Sam B to Clare K, who beat the NL keeper with a fine shot gave us a 1 – 0 lead. We managed to hold onto this lead for the remainder of the game.
Result – Orient 1 – 0 North London (Clare K)
Our fourth game was against Cheshunt, who are currently the league leaders. This was another tough game, but we had yet to concede any goals, and our team brimming with confidence.
The game was again end to end, with shots from both teams failing to create a lead. Then a great assist by Clare N to Sam B was successfully dispatched, beating the Cheshunt keeper. LO again found themselves with the lead. Four running offences were then notched up by Cheshunt, giving us our second penalty of the day. Sam B again stepped up to the mark. The ball finely struck sent the Cheshunt keeper flapping her arms to try and stop it to no effect. LO now had a 2 – 0 lead. Cheshunt were not given the chance to get back in the game, thanks to our sturdy defence. Game over!
Result – Orient 2 – 0 Cheshunt (Sam B x 2)
Our last game of the day was against Southend Greens. We were going into this game with one draw, and three wins, no goals conceded. We were not going to end the day with anything to spoil this record.
The game got off to a great start for us with a quick goal. In a three pass move, from a pass out from keeper Williams to Andree S, who made a great pass to Sally J, who then made another great pass to Sam B who thumped home a shot. The remainder of the game was a bit stop and start as our ref was pulling up a lot of offences, mainly against Southend. But again, this plays to our strengths as we try our best to be disciplined and fair. There was one player in particular who was already frustrated by our ref in their previous game. This seemed to disrupt them a bit. There were more shots from both sides that were unsuccessful. Then for one Southend player, the ref’s whistle was blown against them once too often, and as a result of her arguing with the ref, she was red carded. Southend had to play out the rest of the game with one player short.
Result – Southend Greens 0 – 1 Orient (Sam B)
What a successful day and weekend we’d had. Probably one of the most successful in any of our previous league fixtures. In total, we had only lost one game in 10 played over the weekend, only two goals conceded, eight clean sheets, 11 goals scored, three draws & six wins.
We have moved up one place from 5th to 4th place in the Herts league and are now in touching distance of the top three, and created a buffer between us and 5th place. Taking 13 points from a maximum of 15 on the Sunday. It’s all to play for.
So much for the O’s women to be proud of. All the players and supporters that were involved, contributed so much to our success. Onwards and upwards!
Team –
Chris Williams (GK & Manager)
Debbie Lewzey
Sally Jones
Clare Kavanagh
Clare Nwofor
Sam Baker (Captain)
Andree Selner (Vice Captain)
Lynda Dowling

Goals –
Sam Baker – 4; Clare Kavanagh – 1; Clare Nwofor – 1
Clean sheets –
Chris Williams - 5
Full Results -:
Orient 0 – 0 Luton Town Orange
Chesham 0 – 2 Orient
Orient 1 – 0 North London
Orient 2 – 0 Cheshunt
Southend Greens 0 – 1 Orient

Match Report courtesy of Chris Williams.