Toby Ladies 0:4 Orient

17 August 2026

Toby away report
Match facts review
Ben's slideshow
Jody interviews

Toby Ladies 0:4 L Orient

Bobby Moore Sports Hub, Dagenham.
August 16, 2026

Well, it’s been quite the summer for Leyton Orient Women. After a dominant season where they went undefeated in the League and won their regional League Cup and Trophy tournaments, they now enter the 2026/27 season with all new coaches and entire new team. Unprecedented? Most certainly… But it really wouldn’t be Leyton Orient without a little drama now, would it? This year’s Orient squad is mix of youngsters and veterans with several players following Jody Buckley and his coaching staff to the O’s from Maldon & Tiptree, including 17-year old goalie Freya Faulkner (Remember this name!), striker Amy Yeldham and Stef Paci, a midfielder who has been appointed at the club’s captain.

Joining the former Jammers are players such as defender Gracie Hickman (from Billericay Town), midfielder Lily Aungier (Atlético London), striker Tiff Balfour (Brentford) and defender Sara Merican, who has played for the Singaporean national team – in both football and cricket. Brittany Váron, a winger who played last year for Orient’s U18s team, has earned a spot in the senior squad, and right back Kaylee Shurety, who played for Clapton CFC for the past two seasons, has returned to the O’s fold.

📷 Ben James

With the past season long since disappeared in the rear-view mirror and a pre-season that was plagued by cancelled matches, Buckley’s squad took to the pitch at the Bobby Moore Sports Hub against Toby Women for their inaugural match in the Eastern Region Women's Football League’s Division One South. After finishing mid-table in the division last season, Toby would prove to be a good yardstick for the new look O’s.

Both sides started the match cautiously, like two boxers in the opening rounds trying to feel each other out. The first real threat on target came after about five minutes from Toby; however, a shot from about 20 yards out went wide of the Orient goal. A subsequent attempt was easily corralled by Faulkner. The O’s first real chance came a few minutes later, but an optimistic shot went wide for a Toby goal kick. After about 20 minutes, Orient started to control possession and kept the play mostly in the Toby half, forcing the home side to clear the ball out of play. Surety, who has traditionally played a more defensive role, was frequently positioned further up the pitch in an attacking position. Her throw-ins to her teammates were causing problems for Toby.

Near the half-hour mark, the deadlock was broken after Amy Yeldham was on the receiving end of a pass that put her one-on-one with the Toby goalkeeper. Not making any mistake, Yeldham calmly slotted the ball to the left of the sprawling goalie to open Orient’s season scoring tally. Yeldham’s goal boosted the O’s confidence and pinned their opponents deep into their own half. The besieged Toby team were forced to concede several corner kicks and throw-ins. Their goalie had to make some good saves to keep the score 1-0.

📷 Ben James

About 40 minutes in, Orient scored their second. A sublime 20-yard pass from Shurety was met by the foot of Libby Keeler, another former Jammer, who flicked the ball past both the Toby goalie and a defender to make it 2-0, which was how the half ended.

After the 15-minute break, the second half got under way with Toby immediately trying to get on the scoresheet. A long ball into the Orient penalty box forced Faulker to make a save, but she did not appear all that troubled by the attempt. Whatever hope Toby had of getting back into the match ended a few minutes later as assist maker Shurety became goal scorer Shurety as she made a run on goal with the ball and swept it into the back of the net to give Orient a three-goal lead.

As the game progressed, so did Orient’s confidence. Passes became crisper. Teammates became more vocal in their communication. Possession became more assured. Mistakes were minimised. And balls passed back to Faulkner were done so with assurance that the goalkeeper would subsequently launch them forward. With about 20 minutes to go, the O’s put the final nail in Toby’s coffin as Keeler nabbed her second of the match. Knowing the three points were theirs, Buckley rotated members of the squad off the pitch. The team’s most recent signing, Danielle Hindley, came on for Lily Aungier, and Keeler was replaced by Yeldham who had come off earlier.
While Faulkner was kept busy, Toby did not spend too much time deep in the Orient end, thanks in large part to the defensive corps anchored by Hickman. This said the hosts did not give up and nearly scored a consolation goal minutes from time, but were thwarted by Faulkner, ensuring her and her teammates earned a clean sheet.

📷 Ben James

What did we learn from the O’s 4-0 win? Well, it’s only been one match after an abridged pre-season and we’re still trying to learn who’s who, but the outlook is a positive one. Buckley and his coaching crew have worked wonders assembling an entirely new squad since the end of June. Compared with last season, the younger Orient squad are playing in a tougher division, so don’t expect one-sided victories with the matches being much more competitive.

Up next are AFC Sudbury Reserves, who the O’s will welcome to Cheshunt for their first home match of the season. Despite being ‘Reserves’, this team from Suffolk should not be taken lightly. Last season, the “Reserves” romped their way to a league title without a loss, to earn promotion, and they thumped the relegated Hutton 5-0 to kick-off their own season. AFC Sudbury’s First Team sit one tier above both their ‘Reserves’ and Orient, so perhaps the moniker “Reserves” is not doing them much justice. We shall find out next Sunday.

✍Ben James

Jody's post match comments

Our thanks to @lofc_women on 'X' from where we took this video clip, it's just shy of three minutes.

Click the image (above) to view the clip on YouTube.

Toby Ladies slideshow

Thanks to Ben James for the images to make this slideshow.

From the programme

As shared recently in the club's programme for the O's versus Sheffield Wednesday, here's part two of the interview with O's gaffer Jody Buckley. We've amended it a little to reflect the passage of time...

Orient ladies finished with a 100 per cent record in the league last season, winning 17 of their 17 matches. With a new squad and a new manager, Orient must start all over again at the higher level and Jody Buckley, formerly in charge of Maldon & Tiptree, is aware of the challenge that lies ahead. He wants promotion again in his first campaign in E10 and is also targeting growth among the fanbase, with the hope being that the women's team can play some matches at BetWright Stadium in 2026-27. In the second part of our chat with the new man at the helm, Jody explained:
"Tier 6 is harder - just look at some of the teams like Southend and Colchester, Chelmsford, Hashtag reserves and Enfield Town. So it will be very competitive. But the thing that makes me think is, I look at the crowds I've seen other teams get - 3,500 at Southend and Colchester - and I think: 'why can't we emulate that? I know that we can achieve that, we hope to be visible enough to followers of Orient that we get the crowds in this season. So from that side, it is important we get the exposure we need, alongside the men's team. I'd love it if we could get decent crowds in for our matches.
Buckley is something of a newcomer to the dugout although he had success with trophies at his old club and sensed the women's game is growing exponentially.
"Why can't we get 2,500, 3,000 people down to each home game?"
At the time of writing, he has signed the likes of Gracie Hickman, Lily Aungier, Elissa Stonebrook, Brittany Varon and new captain Stef Paci for the O's, who began with a 4:0 away win at Toby at the Bobby Moore Sports Hub, Parsloe Park, Dagenham.
"Maldon was my first job in management, I'd only coached in youth football before that. I began to focus more on girls football around the time of Covid. My daughter was getting more involved and I got a buzz from it, it was natural to move into the women's game and it is such an up-and-coming time for that in football."