Leyton Orient Women

Hertford Town 2:3 Leyton Orient

Match Report
Hertford
1st November 2026.

Amid a two-match losing streak that saw Orient dumped out of both the League Plate and Capital Women’s Cup, the O’s returned to League action on Sunday, away at picturesque Hertingfordbury Park, in need to snap out of their mini funk. Their potential tonic came in the form of Hertford Town, a squad they defeated in a dramatic come-from-behind 4-3 home victory only three weeks ago.

📷 Ben James

To the surprise of almost no one who watched the previous match between the two teams, coach Jody Buckley gave starting nods to Libby Keeler and Aleena Anwar – the two teens who spearheaded the second half comeback – along with new signing Katy O’Donnell, formerly of Enfield Town. This relegated Amy Yeldham and captain Stef Paci to the bench, with defender Dani Hindley and midfielder Edie Miller also donning pinnies. Goalie Freya Faulkner was back in the squad, after recovering from a six-week injury; however, in-form Fliss Tatum started between the sticks. From the whistle, the team in red with white ‘braces’ were on the charge, forcing Town goalie Ellie Draper to save testing attempts on target from Keeler and Anwar. At 10 minutes in, this early pressure bore fruit as Draper was forced to clear an Aimee Brosnan cross which midfielder Lily Aungier subsequently lashed into the back of the net – giving Orient their first opening lead in six matches, since the end of September.

📷 Ben James

Not content with their lead, the O’s kept the play mostly in the Hertford half with O’Donnell and fellow newcomer Molly Sherrin firing crosses from the sides to Anwar, Keeler and Aungier. However, it was Hertford – against the run of play – who got the game’s second goal. Striker Izzy May pounced on an errant pass from about 30 yards from goal and drove forward. Her shot from distance appeared to clip an Orient defender and the ball deflected to the opposite side of where Tatum was heading and into the back of the goal. Orient then appeared rattled that their hard work had been nullified. Passes were made with optimism rather than precision, on several occasions possession was given away cheaply, and attempts on goal were not shot with accuracy or ferocity. The home side’s confidence was up and at 35 minutes they had taken the lead. A poor clearance up the middle was claimed by Hertford’s no. 9 Charlie Mills who quickly sent the ball into the box with May striking the ball cleanly past Tatum for her brace. The final 10 minutes of the half saw a few half-hearted chances for both squads, but both teams headed under the stand and into the changing rooms with the hosts up 2 – 1.

📷 Ben James

To start the second-half, Buckley made two changes. On came captain Paci and attacking forward Yeldham with Anwar and Keeler coming off. And five minutes in, the changes paid off. Coming off a corner earned by Yeldham, Paci’s ball from the flag found the head of a leaping Yeldham – and just like that, the match was knotted at two goals apiece! While Orient’s confidence had been renewed, Hertford were in no mood to surrender and almost retook the lead just a few minutes later, with Tatum being forced to parry an on-target shot to the side of the net for a corner. For close to five minutes, the ball was almost exclusively in the visitor’s end, but the O’s defence held fast. Sensing further changes were required, Buckley sent on speedy midfielder Edie Miller at the hour mark for debutant O’Donnell, who had made an impressive start. And a few moments later, Miller was joined by Dani Hindley and a returning Keeler with Aimee Brosnan and Sherrin yielding for them.

📷 Ben James

The impetus was back with the O’s and the match had returned to the host’s end. Just prior to 70 minutes, Paci must have all but thought she scored as her rocket from 30 yards was denied by the tips of Draper’s gloves who somehow managed to deflect the ball onto the crossbar and then clear the rebound behind the goal for a corner.

Just a minute later Orient retook the lead, thanks to a thunderous Hindley strike from almost the same spot as Paci’s. This time, Draper had no chance and could only retrieve the ball from the back of her goal. At this point, Orient really tried to turn the screws on Hertford. Defender Hickman, who had been a rock all match, was replaced by a returning Anwar. A few minutes later, a pass was sent Anwar away, giving her a one-on-one with Draper; however, both players collided with Anwar getting the worst of it. Play was stopped for a few minutes as Anwar was tended to and, rubbing the small of her back, had to come off for treatment. Thankfully, it was only a knock and ten minutes later she returned to action.

The final few minutes saw Hertford throw everything at trying to grab an equaliser. Orient lost possession twice, and gave away c orners, but Hertford were unable to make them count.Goal scorer Hindley was shown a yellow card for a blatant shirt pull just inside the O’s half, nullifying a potential attack. Then some luck finally came Orient’s way. At the end of regulation time, Hertford’s Charlie Mills was sent in alone on Tatum. Her chip shot went cleanly past the keeper and hit the inside of the post. Instead of deflecting into the goal, the ball somehow rolled along the line before being cleared to safety. With the referee about to blow his whistle for full-time, it was Amy Day who saved the three points, as she was in the right place at the right time to head a Hertford shot off the line. A relief for Orient and torment for Hertford.

📷 Ben James

With the win, the O’s now sit top of the table in Division One South, three points up on AFC Sudbury Reserves and with one game in hand. While at first glance this looks nothing but good news, there is a whale in the water that could sink the good ship Orient – and that is Chelmsford City who sit four points back, have two games in hand and have a positive goal differential of 22. And we get to play them, back-to-back, on November 15 and 22. But before these two massive matches against Chelmsford City, Orient will face struggling and winless Colchester United at home next Sunday. While favourites heading into this match, Buckley and his assistants Stu Hudson and Marc Wilson should be concerned with the squad’s ongoing issues with questionable second touches and squandering possession of the ball. And if there is one thing that we have learned this season it'ss that no team should be taken for granted.

Hertford Town (A) slideshow

Images by Ben James

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Sunday's results round-up

There were six games involving teams from our league, two in the inter-league 'Regional Plate' (LP).
ERWFL clubs are shown with a *.

The other 4 games were league matches in Division One South (D1).

⚽  Colchester United and Hutton both continue in search of their first points of the season. The way things are shaping up, the relegation spot will likely result from the league matcheds between these two clubs.

⚽  Chelmsford City now have a huge +22 goal difference after only five games. They were coach Buckley's pre-season tip for the title, he clearly knows this league.

⚽  A cup weekend for AFC Sudbury reserves and defeats for Hertford Town and Southend Utd helped our cause greatly as we now sit top. However, Chelmsford and Enfield are starting to loom large in our rear-view mirror.

The current league table

Updated after Sunday's results.

We'll be back on Thursday with a preview of next Sunday's League match away at Colchester Utd plus any other news we can gather in the meantime.