Jade, Ellie and Esme put pen to paper...
Jade Keogh, Ellie Thomas Leek and Esme Lancaster
In a most positive move for the ladies' team, midfielders Esme Lancaster and Ellie Thomas Leek plus central defender Jade Keogh have added to the ever-growing squad by committing to the Os for the 2025/26 season. Jade and Esme joined Orient mid-way during last season along with a small group of other players from Hashtag Utd. Welsh youth international Ellie Thomas Leek joined at around the same time and it was that group who played a pivotal role in upgrading the overall quality of the side.
In the interests of clarity, these three can be regarded as Orient stars in view of their outstanding performances during the latter half of last season, and the fact they have committed to stay at the Os is great news as we prepare for the coming season. We can't wait!
⚽ Jade quickly took a commanding role at the centre of defence and, in tandem with teenager Layla Salmon Crouch, stiffened the defence to a significant degree. Jade's love of twenty-five metre thunderbolts, of which she is very capable, helped her to chalk up six goals from twelve appearances. In addition, when her powerful strikes didn't always hit the net directly, they usually caused a measure of havoc which, on four occasions, were taken advantage of by her team mates. 12 appearances, 6 goals and 4 assists - from a centre-back. That's what we call "performance".
⚽ In Esme Lancaster's case, she took over the defensive midfielder role and successfully stemmed the tide of opponents raiding our defence at speed and often unmarked. That move helped to change the team from a group struggling near the bottom of the league into real promotion candidates.
Esme played fourteen games last season, thirteen of those in the starting eleven. Despite her main defensive tasks, she still managed to hit four goals and record an assist. As we watch the squad being built, the inclusion of Esme Lancaster is another positive step to achieving a winning team. As you can tell, we are big Esme fans here at lofcwomen.com.
⚽ Ellie's career has always been at a high level having started out at Bristol City, she spent four years at Auburn University (Alabama), then a season in France at Le Havre before returning to the UK to play for top sides Charlton, Lewes, Blackburn and Stoke City. It didn't take long for her skills to shine here at Orient, she hit four goals in her nine appearances but, best known as a supplier of "killer" passes, she is officially recorded as providing five assists. We think it was more than that but hey ho!.
Our thanks to these three star performers for staying on at Orient and our appreciation to whoever in the club made it happen. Bravo!
Player gallery updates
player's gallery
As the recruitment continues and more women sign up for the coming season, we try to keep our player's gallery up to date. We need to be a little circumspect because not everyone who has played in pre-season has been declared as having signed up for 2025/26. We take our info from the FA's website and that is now showing seventeen people as official Orient players. Ellie Thomas Leek is a recent addition to that list as are Jade Keogh and Esme Lancaster - and very important additions they are too! At the time of posting this, the seventeen names are as follows:
⚽ Ruby Abela
⚽ Gemma Abela Baker
⚽ Kallie Georgie Balfour
⚽ Eva Carvalho
⚽ Emily Dilliway
⚽ Lola Duroyaiye
⚽ Grace Gillard
⚽ Georgia Griffin
⚽ Jade Keogh
⚽ Wiktoria Kiszkis
⚽ Esme Lancaster
⚽ Ellie Thomas Leek
⚽ Stephanie McCaffrey
⚽ Olivia McGregor
⚽ Lucy Porter
⚽ Sammy Rowland
⚽ Hayley West
We've seen Wiktoria Fronc and Poppy Binding playing (and scoring goals), so we're hoping the FA's list is a bit out of date and that these two classy players can be added to our list. Have we missed anyone? If you know more, please get in touch and put us right. In the meantime, check out the gallery by clicking on the three horizontal lines (above right) and select "Player Gallery" from the options.
A video short from the recent game against Dulwich Hamlet.
The official Leyton Orient Instagram channel features a short video with clips taken before, during and after the recent 3:0 win at Dulwich Hamlet.
You'll need an Instagram account to view it which you can do by clicking here.
If you don't have an Instagram account, here's a copy of it on YouTube which is available to everyone....
www.youtube.com/watch.
lofcwomen.com website updates
A new season is starting, there's a new set of fixtures, the league table has yet to show any games, the home ground has changed, the players gallery is taking shape, there are some small changes to the Women's national football pyramid, we have a new live-text service and our "about" page needs has been updated to reflect the changes we've made during the off season. The get the best from lofcwomen.com - click the three horizontal lines (top right or just below right) to access our menu, there you'll see that (nearly) everything is up to date.
The results and fixtures page shows all the 2025/26 pre-season results and the GLWFL fixtures so far.
The league table (coloured grey) option links you directly with the GLWFL official web pages so you'll always be able to see the very latest in where we are in the standings.
The FA women's football pyramid option has been updated to add a little more clarity to show how we fit into the greater scheme of things. We are (currently) at Tier seven, not for much longer we reckon!
Finally the about us option describes who we at lofcwomen.com are and what we try to do. You can also find where Orient's new home ground is, there's a link to Google Maps on how the get there.
We are currently working on an improved live-text service which includes a clearer and less cluttered view for mobile phone users. Here's a link to a TEST PAGE - ignore the data on it, it's just a test for the time being.
If you have suggestions on how we might further improve things then just let us know, we'll be glad of your feedback.
Get in touch
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.