Leyton Orient Women

24 September 2026

• Gizmo's League Cup preview
• Other fixtures round-up
• LOFCwomen.com Live-Text show

Leyton Orient vs Harpenden Town

Cheshunt
Sept 27, 2026

Orient return to League Cup action this Sunday with a tough fixture against Premier Division (Tier 5) team Harpenden Town.

Harpenden Town FC can date their history back to 1891, but the story of the women’s team starts in 2022 when Oakland Ladies joined the club and became Harpenden Ladies. They won Division 1 North in 2024-25 and were comfortably mid-table last season in the Premier Division. They currently sit 7th, having won three and lost three. This includes an 8-0 thrashing by Brentwood – “we played all the right passes, just not in the right order”.

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The problem for the Harps has been at the other end where they look shaky. I’m not sure who is playing in defence, aside from Kacee Warren, but this may be part of the problem! The website information for the club does not align with the information from the league.

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Orient come into this match after a hard fought 2-0 win over Southend which saw a debut for Fliss Tatum in goal. Kaylee Shurety put in a hard-working defensive performance whilst Tiff Balfour and Samantha Read provided the goals. Orient added two shots against the bar. For the first time this season, Orient had a full complement of subs, so I hope that will be repeated this Sunday as a Cup game against a higher ranked side will be intense.

Stef Paci will again lead the team out with Gracie Hickman and Elissa Stonebrook behind her in their defensive roles - although Elissa played significantly further forward last Sunday than we normally see her. Beth Brogan and Erin Cheyne are reliable presences, and we will see if we can Thai Dani Hindley down. Up front, Amy Yeldham has been in good form and Aleena Anwar has shown good touch and a turn of speed.

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Jody Buckley deserves great credit for putting together a team at short notice which has a high floor, as do the players for buying into his ideas. Sunday’s match is about asking what the ceiling for this team might be. Harpenden are a solid mid-table team in the division above. Although they score goals, their defence can be very leaky. A Jekyll and Hyde team: if on song they can score loads, if they are off it, they can concede loads.

Orient have players with quality to take advantage of any opportunities but this will also be a big test for the defence. A fascinating contest is in store and one that promises goals.

✍ Gizmo G

Harpenden ladies team slideshow

Thanks to HLWFC Instagram. Here's a preview of who wuill be coming to Cheshunt on Sunday.

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If you have the promotion of the women's team at heart, please feel free to use our images in your noble quest.

Follow along 'LIVE' with us.

Making Live-Text shows can be a bit frantic but it's a lot of fun bringing you minute-by-minute updates as the game progresses. Not knowing the outcome adds some spice to the mix. We have Larry Peterson and Ben James (plus friends and the LOFCwomen.com air-horn) at the games, they send in reports every couple of minutes and we post them, live! straight onto our website. There are no adverts, no cookies, no tracking, no sponsors and there's no need to keep refreshing the page to see the latest update - we do all that - every game.

Drop by LOFCwomen.com in the next day or two and this direct link will take you to Sunday's LIVE-TEXT show for the cup match against Harpenden Town.

Sunday's fixtures round-up

There will be eleven games involving clubs in our (Eastern) region on Sunday. All are League Cup matches (LC):

Regional League Cup ties
Eastern Region Division 1 (South) teams (that's us) are shown with a *.

⚽  Hutton remain largely an unknown threat. They've played only the one league game in our division, a heavy 5:0 defeat. Now they face a perennial Tier 5 outfit in Wroxham. A scary prospect for the tier six club.

⚽  Enfield Town are going along well in Division 1 (South) having been relegated from the premier division (Tier 5) at the end of last season. They get the chance to show last season's opponents Royston they have regrouped and are now a force again. This result may show something about the relative strengths of the Eastern region tier 5 versus tier 6 clubs.

⚽ We know about Southend Utd from last Sunday's encounter, they face tier 5 side Histon who play their league games in the Eastern Region premier division having played 17 and won them all last year in tier 6. Southend won't give anybody anything but perhaps Histon will take it anyway. The result will be quite revealing.

⚽ Unbeaten Chelmsford City also take on a tier 5 club in the shape of AFC Sudbury's first team. Sudbury's reserve side play in our division at Tier 6 and have lost only one game in five - a 3:0 loss to us in August. They are clearly a strong side so imagine how tough their first team must be to be sitting in 3rd spot in the premier division. Perhaps Chelmsford can pull off a famous victory?