On Sunday, 21 June, Leyton Orient women travelled to Cheshunt for the Herts league fixture.
Most of the team had played the day before in the Essex League Cup in Chelmsford, where we had reached the semi-finals. The weather prediction for Sunday was like the day before, only hotter!
As was the case in May, Southend had again pulled out their team from the premiership fixture, as a result, our games were going to be longer than the norm, 18 mins, with a quick break and change of ends at half time.
We had contacted the Herts chairwoman on Saturday to ask if the length of the games could be reconsidered due to the expected heat, but this was declined.
Our first game was against Cheshunt Eagles, who at the start of the day were top of the league. A couple of our players were wearing caps due the sun, but were told to remove them by the ref. This was a surprise to us and we tried to argue the point, but the rule stood!
There were a few early shots on the Orient goal, but these either went into the side netting or saved by keeper Williams. The Eagles continued with the pressure, but the O’s withstood this. At the other end, Jones made a pass through to Nwofor, but this was well blocked by Cheshunt. Cheshunt then got in a long shot, but this was saved by Williams. The Eagles were clocking up their walking offences and were sitting at three. There was some great attacking play that lead to a shot from Baker that narrowly went wide. The O’s then got a free kick, with Kavanagh passing the ball to Baker who just shot wide of the mark. A couple of subs were made at half time. Cheshunt were very quick off the mark at the start of the second half which resulted in an early goal. Orient got a shot on goal but this was saved by the Eagles keeper. An Eagles ball was then intercepted by Handley who found herself on her own, with a swift kick of the boot, she found the back of the net. One goal each. Cheshunt then had a few more shots on the O’s goal, but again, these were either blocked by the sturdy O’s defence, or saved by Williams. Then an O’s player was judged to have run across and stop a goal scoring opportunity. She was swiftly shown a blue card, and a penalty was award to the Eagles. However, the penalty was well saved by Williams.
Result: LO 1 (Handley) – 1 Cheshunt Eagles.
Game two was against Luton Town, who started the day in third place, one above the O’s. They are a very physical and strong side. An early couple of shots from Luton were saved by Williams. O’s then had some good attacking play of their own at the other end and a shot was stopped by the Luton defence. However, Luton were unable to stop a pass from Handley to Kavanagh, who struck the ball into the bottom corner of Luton’s goal. The O’s were one up! There were further shots from Handley and Baker, which were saved.
Luton then gave a free kick away for a tackle. A Luton player started to argue with the ref. Selner had a shot from the free kick but this went high. Back up the other end Luton go, and with a great strike that gave Williams no chance of saving, they score. There was a good passage of play from the O’s from Baker to Nwofor, with Kavanagh getting in a good couple of blocks. The O’s were then awarded a penalty for Luton’s four non-walking offences. A Luton player continued to argue with the ref. First, she was given a blue card, which quickly turned into a red for dissent. Selner stepped up to take the penalty, but had to wait for the arguing to stop and the Luton player to leave the pitch. Unfortunately, she shot wide of the Luton goal. The O’s had further possession and a free kick. The pass was made to Jones who sent the ball towards the Luton goal, but was saved by the Luton keeper.
Result: LO 1 (Kavanagh) – 1 Luton Town.
Onto game three against our friends North London. Our players were getting tired, unsurprisingly as they had played the day before, the day was hotting up, and we had Lewzey trying to recover from an injury she had picked up in the first game.
An early freekick for Orient was sent wide by Selner. Kavanagh then had a shot which just went wide. North London had a good spell of possession. Kavanagh then had a good solo effort that was saved by the N. London keeper. Dowling then won the ball and made a good pass to Kavanagh, who struck the ball and scored. There was continued back and forth play. Orient were then awarded another free kick. A shot from Baker was saved by the keeper. The O’s started the second half well, Kavanagh’s shot whizzed across the goal, with Baker’s shot hitting the post. The game was getting a bit scrappy, with further shots from the O’s going wide or saved. The O’s keeper was not troubled too much in this game thanks to the steadfast Orient defence.
Result: North London 0 – 1 LO (Kavanagh).
Onto the last game which was against Chesham. By now the O’s players were dead on their feet and very, very hot! It had been one game after another with only a few minutes to recover after each game. Chesham are a very strong team, and they had had the luxury of getting about a 20 min break before they played us. This was obviously going to be an advantage for them. But the Orient warriors are never short of strength and determination and into battle they went. Chesham had a couple of shots on goal, going high or blocked by Jones. A Chesham shot from a corner was saved by Williams. They then had a good passage of play which resulted in a great shot into the top corner of the O’s goal, 1 – 0 down. There was continued pressure from Chesham but their shots were off target. Handley got in a shot at the other end, but was penalised for stepping into the Chesham area. At the start of the second half, there was a great pass from Handley to Baker, who’s shot was saved by the Chesham keeper. The O’s did manage to get some good possession but a couple of passes missed their target. Chesham were then able to break away and found the back of the O’s net, but they were penalised for running. There was continued pressure from Chesham and with another good shot, they beat keeper Williams. During the attempt to save the shot, Williams injured her already injured shoulder. She felt that she was unable to continue, even though there were only a few minutes to go. Lewzey, who had a foot injury of her own, bravely put on her gloves to replace our injured keeper. Although she was only keeping goal for the last few minutes, she was able to get in a couple of saves which prevented Chesham adding to their score.
Result: Chesham 2 – 0 LO.
The Orient warriors ended the day with five well battled and well earnt points. No more could have been asked of the team. They played through the day in difficult weather conditions with pure grit and determination. We have three fixtures left in the Herts league, and we hope to improve on our position. We currently sit fourth, and only nine points behind third placed Luton. We cannot finish below fourth at the end of the season as we are well in front of the fifth and sixth placed teams.
A complaint has been sent to the Herts Chairwoman to raise with their head ref about the no cap wearing rule as we felt that this was unacceptable given the weather conditions on the day, we felt it lacked a duty of care.
Thanks to our supporters on the day, Dave Jones and Mrs Jones, Ann and Lisa, and a big thanks to Alison who not only came to support us but who also took a great set of notes that made writing this report a whole lot easier!
Team – Chris Williams (GK & Manager), Debbie Lewzey, Sally Jones, Clare Kavanagh, Clare Nwofor, Sam Baker (C), Andree Selner, Frances Handley, Lynda Dowling.
Scorers – Handley x 1; Kavanagh x 2
Clean sheets – 1 (Williams)