17 September 2026
- Gizmo's Southend Preview
- Sunday's fixtures round-up
- Sunday's Live-Text show
- Play for Orient women
Gizmo's preview
Leyton Orient vs Southend Utd
Cheshunt - Sept 20, 2026 - at 2pm
Southend United Women visit Leyton Orient on Sunday 20 September as a newly rebuilt, energetic but inconsistent Eastern Region WFL Division One South side.
📷 NickyHayes.com
Regular previewer Gizmo G is away this week so yours truly gets the chance to step into his large shoes for this preview.
Our own Lily Aungier was a "Shrimper" until this season, now of course, she is a key part of the Orient attack. There's nothing quite like putting one over on your former club - and then being all gracious about it. Let's hope Lily gets the chance to do just that!
Southend United sit 5th in the table with 6 points from 4 matches (W2 - D0 - L2 - GF6 - GA6) with a wins over Wormley Rovers (4–2) and Frontiers (3-2, in the FA Cup). They've suffered losses to Chelmsford City (0–2) and Enfield Town (1–2) who are both heavily tipped to share the top two positions at the end of the season. They sound like a tough proposition.
Southend do seem somewhat unpredictable, whilst capable of scoring in bursts, yet vulnerable defensively against fast transitions. We're going to need Aleena Anwar and Tiff Balfour to make that idea work.
Southend’s squad blends some long‑serving defenders with several new midfielders and forwards. The club is undergoing something of a rebuild under manager Nick Sheldrick, we know what that feels like!
Key individuals include:-
Abbey Dell — Forward; scored vs Wormley and is one of their most reliable finishers.
Georgia Hyland — Creative wide player; scored the equaliser vs Wormley.
Maizie Kelly — Energetic midfielder; scored vs Wormley and also netted in the FA Cup.
Darcy Drewitt — New midfielder; scored in the FA Cup and converted a penalty vs Wormley.
Molly Lee — Goalkeeper; strong shot‑stopper, she made notable saves vs Hertford and Wormley.
Lauren Johnson (captain) — Experienced defender, anchors the back line.
Jodie Murphy — Last season’s Player of the Season; defensive leader.
Zoe Tryfonos — Forward; lively, creates chances.
Abbie Rex — Wide midfielder; we'll need to prevent her putting in the crosses - or suffer the consequences.
📷 NickyHayes.com
Based on match reports we've looked at, SUWFC have:
- High work‑rate midfield — Kelly, Drewitt, Tryfonos press aggressively.
- Direct wide play — Hyland and Rex deliver early crosses.
- Defensive reliance on experience — Johnson, Murphy & Rex form the stabilising spine.
- Susceptible to fast counters — Wormley and Frontiers both punished them early.
- Strong mentality — The 4–2 comeback vs Wormley shows resilience and fitness.
- Multiple goal sources (Hyland, Dell, Kelly, Drewitt).
- Strong leadership from Johnson & Murphy.
- Capability of momentum swings — dangerous when chasing games.
- An improving cohesion as their new players settle.
- A record of slow starts — they conceded early in matches.
- Defensive gaps when pressed wide or countered.
- Inconsistent finishing — missed chances vs Hertford & Chelmsford.
📷 NickyHayes.com
Likely key aspects of this game:
It is a top‑half clash with early‑season significance. We currently sit 4th with 7 points (W2 D1 L0) and have conceded only 1 league goal so far. Southend have conceded six in four games.
It could be won and lost as a result of:
- Orient’s disciplined defence vs Southend’s chaotic yet dangerous attack.
- The speed and penetration managed by Hyland & Rex vs our full‑backs.
- Midfield duels — Kelly & Drewitt vs our strong ball‑winners.
- The strike rate of the O's forwards compared to chances not taken.
- If Southend get ahead and feel confident, they'll be almost impossible to contain.
- The BIG one! How many Orient players are away on holiday etc., and will not even be there? Southend will have a full squad - you can bet your life on it!
📷 NickyHayes.com
Leyton Orient have close ties with Cheshunt F.C. who have a first class ground and facilities in Theobalds Lane, London EN8.
This is the home pitch for Leyton Orient's Women's first team during 2026/27. There's some covered standing, 380 seats, car parking, a club house and excellent facilities there. Here's a link to Google maps to see how to get there.
This game starts at 2pm so we encourage you to spend a couple of hours supporting the Orient ladies at Cheshunt. If you prefer to go by train, Theobalds Grove overground station is a 5-10 minute walk away. Don't go to the next station of Cheshunt, it's much farther away.
O's line-up (From):
♦ Aleena Anwar ♦ Lily Aungier ♦ Havin Aygun ♦ Tiff Balfour ♦ Beth Brogan ♦ Abby Caldon ♦ Erin Cheyne ♦ Freya Faulker (GK) ♦ Gracie Hickman ♦ Danni Hindley ♦ Libby Keeler ♦ Sara Merican ♦ Edie Miller ♦ Stef Paci (C) ♦ Samantha Read ♦ Kaylee Shurety ♦ Elissa Stonebrook ♦ Shannon Wason ♦ Brittany Varon ♦ Amy Yeldham
✍ Paul Fischer (Gizmo for a day!)
Fixtures round-up
This Sunday, there will be three league games and four FA Cup matches. Sadly, we're out of the FA Cup courtesy of Milton Keynes Irish who gave us a bit of a beating recently.
Eastern Region WFL Division 1 (South)
| D1S | AFC Sudbury | : | AFC Welwyn |
| D1S | Hertford | : | Toby |
| D1S | Orient | : | Southend |
Women's FA Cup - 2nd Qualifying round
Teams in our league are showmn with *.
| FAC | Colchester* | : | Newmarket |
| FAC | Enfield* | : | Thetford |
| FAC | Hutton* | : | Bowers Pitsea |
| FAC | Chelmsford* | : | Clapton CSC |
From a selfish point of view (and why not?) we'd like to see Toby take points from Hertford and for Welwyn to win the battle of the AFCs. We're unlikely to get our wishes granted.
In the FA Cup, it will be interesting to see how Chelmsford City, the top club in our Tier 6 division - deal with the London based Tier 6 club of Clapton Community. Bragging rights between neighbouring leagues are up for grabs here.
Sunday's LIVE-TEXT show
As normal, we'll be presenting our live text coverage of the match against Southend Utd. Ace correspondents Larry Peterson and Ben James are booked in to provide the best coverage on the internet. Their updates appear right here on our website so you won't need to sign up to X, Instagram, facebook or anything else. You won't need to refresh the page either, it will update itself automatically every 60 seconds whether or not there has been a new entry. Finally, we won't be bugging you with adverts, there are no cookies, no trackers, no sponsors.... just live coverage. We leave nothing on your device nor do we download anything about you. Just relax and enjoy the game.
The LIVE-TEXT show will be available HERE
Play for Orient Women
We note a plea from the club to attract more players, we assume that means ladies who can cut it at Tier 6 or higher. Certainly, coach Buckley looked down in the mouth before last Sunday's game at Wormley. Fielding only two subs and with the bulk of his strike force not available, we reckon that was the biggest reason we dropped two points. So here's a flyer we nicked from the club's instagram page which aims to put potential players on the road to the Os. If you know anyone who can make the grade, please set the wheels in motion....
📷 Somebody at the club