Getting ready to take on Moneyfields WFC

Continuing the pre-season strategy of facing teams with significantly higher league status, Orient's women travelled down to Portsmouth to take on Tier Four side 'Moneyfields' WFC. They are the only club along that part of the south coast to play in the FA's Women's National League (FAWNL) hierarchy so they have the advantage of being the only real outlet for local players to get higher level football. Unsurprisingly, they also have a high quality setup with excellent playing and training facilities as would be expected from a side playing in semi-professional competition.
This match turned out to be a typical "game of two halves" in that the O's took the lead in the 15th minute and looked good value for it right up to the 44th minute. Neither team dominated but, to the casual observer, it was Orient who looked more like the higher placed club as they played some attractive football and made some good chances. However, all that came to an abrupt halt as the home side found a well-taken equaliser on the stroke of half time and then, a minute after the restart, hit what turned out to be the winner.
Orient tried hard to re-establish themselves as the better side but were unable to do it in the face of a rejuvenated home side who went on to look the stronger outfit to the final whistle. It is probable that the half time substitutions made the difference but, despite the uphill struggle, the O's ladies achieved a creditable result in view of the three leagues gap between the two teams.
It was a good team performance overall although our picks of week go to the midfield duo of Ellie Tomas Leek and Esme Lancaster plus some excellent goalkeeping from Lola Duroyaiye. Head Coach Jason Stephens will have learned a fair bit about his charges and how well prepared they are to take on the fast approaching Greater London Premier League season. We are aware of one or two absentees who could well have added some extra power to the performance, let's hope they will be available soon. One player who was a vital part of the side last season is Jade Keogh. We haven't seen Jade yet during this pre-season, here's hoping she's not too far away!

Here at lofcwomen.com we run a live-text service where our roving correspondent Larry Peterson attends all the matches (99% of them) and calls over what he sees at the match to the base here at lofcwomen.com and we post his comments 'live' so people can follow along with the game. It also provides a useful "as it happened" account of events so here are Larry's words as reported during the game...
LIVE-TEXT from Moneyfields vs Leyton Orient
If you are at a game, don't forget to seek out and say hello to Larry, he's a friendly chap and seeks always to show the women's team in a positive light.

Earlier this week, in what we understand is the eleventh recruit this season for the women's team, our latest signing - the emerging talent of Ruby Abela. Ruby signed up here at the Os after spending time at West Ham’s Academy and later at Aveley's Under 18s side. Ruby is the niece of first team star Gemma Baker. This will be Ruby's first steps into senior football so we wish her well and, as always, extend a big lofcwomen.com welcome!

Here we find confusion. Orient women's pre-season schedule includes a mid-week game at a team called Atletico London. The kick-off was slated to be at 7:30pm. We hadn't heard of this team until recently when three of Orient's players, Jordan Feldman, Shona Chitate Sumuriwo and Liliana Almeida made the switch to Atletico during the summer. After little scan around the interwebby, it turns out that Atletico used to be called London Seawards and, before that, Leyton Orient.
Our confusion arises in that Atletico's fixtures list does not mention a game against Leyton Orient. It is noteworthy that the two organisation have an unfortunate history in that they were once joined (maybe 'semi-joined' would be a more accurate description) and the subsequent parting of the ways in 2021 did not happen without a measure of bad blood and recriminations. Indeed, reading some online texts (wikipedia and Atletico's social media) reveals the wounds remain unhealed. So, a friendly pre-season game between the two remains questionable.
We don't know at which FAWNL level Atletico will play in the coming season. As London Seawards, they finished bottom of the their Tier Four league so, normally, they would be relegated to a Tier Five league. Whatever happens, if we get confirmation, we'll pass on the info as soon as we get it. In the meantime, there appears to be no game this coming Sunday.

If you have an interest in and views about the women's team then please let us hear your thoughts and suggestions. You can contact us (anonymously if you prefer) via our contact form on our home page or just simply email us at lofcwomen@yahoo.com
We look forward to hearing from you.

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