Match Report - Essex Women’s Walking Football League - 6 June 2026

On Saturday 6th June, Leyton Orient Walking FC Women travelled to Great Baddow High School for the fourth Essex League tournament of the season. We welcomed back Frances Handley from injury and hoped having another out-and-out-striker would yield more goals. The opening game was against Beacon Hill Rovers, who have become a very strong and physical team and today I think won all of their games including against us. There were running offences from both sides, and attempts on goal and the game was evenly matched with some good blocks by our defenders. However, despite Beacon Hill leaning in and making contact to push our defender away, they scored. The referee after the game said when there is what he described as ‘50/50 leaning’ he tends to give advantage to the player who has possession rather than any defender, despite admitting that neither should be allowed. Result: 0-1 Beacon Hill.

Our second game was against Billericay Town Blues, who currently top the table in the league. Billericay kicked off as the ‘home’ team and immediately scored. SB shot wide for us before Billericay forced a save from keeper Williams, forcing a corner. It was then a great display of teamwork from Orient - with direct passing through Baker and Jones to Kavangh who scored. There were speculative long shots from both sides, but following two personal offences a substitution was necessary to avoid a possible ‘sin-bin’ and which changed the formation. Orient were unable to keep the scoreline equal although it was a great shot into the top corner that beat keeper Williams. Orient had three running offences in this game. Result: 2-1 Billericay (Kavanagh).

Game three was against Valley Green Diamonds. Valley Green were the first to shoot on target but this was saved by Williams. Baker then shot high and then a shot from Lewzey was saved. Orient had another three running offences in this game. There was some good defending from Orient and Valley Green resorted to hard long shots but both were too high. Kavanagh had a shot saved and another went wide but the game finished goalless.
Result: 0-0.

Next up Orient faced Harlow Town Pirates. Orient kept early possession but Selner’s shot went high and Harlow broke away quickly and shot into the corner. WIlliams then made a brilliant save. Orient were panicked into making rushed passes and there was sustained pressure. Kavanagh then intercepted a pass and made a solo breakaway, moved sidewards and shot past the keeper to even the score. Williams then stretched to make a fingertip diving save from a low on target shot from Harlow. Selner made a low shot that went wide. Kavanagh intercepted another pass, this time out from the keeper, and Selner scored from the resulting pass. Harlow then piled on the pressure with several shots - some were blocked, some were high but they managed to equalise. Kavanagh immediately responded with another goal. A high shot from Grint before the whistle was called. Result: 3-2 Orient (Kavanagh 2, Selner).

The final game of the day was against Hawkswell. There was an early shot from Hawkswell which Williams saved, but you could see that she had hurt her right shoulder in doing so. Unfortunately an Orient defender was then judged to have stepped into the area, giving away an early penalty to Hawkswell, from which they scored against the injured keeper. Handley then passed to Kavanagh who shot wide before Handley had a shot of her own saved, the rebound was not picked up fast enough by Orient. Orient then had a free kick but the shot was saved off Selner. Baker’s shot went into the side netting and Orient started putting pressure on which resulted in a pass from Kavanagh to Baker who scored. Result: 1-1 (Baker). Orient gained five points from the day’s games - the same number overall as the last league day, however only one clean sheet was kept and it felt we could have achieved more and the air was one of disappointment. Some positives of the day were that we beat Harlow, something that we haven't achieved so far in the league plus we scored against Billericay, something we haven’t done this season. We need to be more resilient against physical teams, and be more proactive/better at trying to play our game. When on best form we can beat any of these teams, but our passing to feet needed to have been more accurate today and we should be more disciplined to control our pace, as we unnecessarily gave away the ball too many times from ‘running’ offences and were close to giving away penalties in two games. It was great to have support from Matthews and nice to see the return to play from Handley, despite not managing to score. As usual, some great notes were made by Kay when not on pitch, to assist with writing up this match report.
Full Results, Matchday Squad And Goal Scorers
Leyton Orient 0-1 Beacon Hill.
Billericay 2-1 Leyton Orient
Valley Green Diamonds 0-0 Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient 3-2 Harlow Town Pirates
Hawkswell 0-0 Leyton Orient

The squad for the day was: Chris Williams (GK), Sally Jones, Sarah Grint, Debbie Lewzey (Manager), Clare Kavanagh, Frances Handley, Sam Baker (Captain), Alison Kay and Andree Selner.

Goalscorers: Kavanagh 3, Baker, Selner.