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Leyton Orient Women kicked off the new competitive season with a first qualifying round of the women's FA Cup at Hitchin Belles, the game resulted in a 13:0 win for the ladies from E10. That result is certainly something we didn't see coming. We knew we had a strong squad with several players accustomed to tier 4 games but we were facing a mid-table Tier six team on their own ground. Larry predicted a tight 1-0 win for us, I thought we might do a little more but nothing like what happened. The truth is, we were uncertain about what kind of team we had, this was to be our first competitive test. It seems we have much more than we'd thought.
Despite clearly having the upper hand, the old Orient problem about taking chances prevailed but that all changed on the half-hour. Sammy Rowland broke the deadlock after which goals flooded in. Grace Gillard headed in number two, she also headed a chance a few minutes later which bobbled around the 6-yard area before Hayley West converted. Just three more minutes passed when Sammy Rowland found the bottom corner from distance to make the score 4-0. Sammy went on to get her hat-trick before half-time running through the Belles defence and beating the keeper. Still not yet half time Poppy Binding also got through the defence and chipped the keeper to make it 6:0. Sammy Rowland scored her fourth goal with a thumping shot at the hour mark. Hitchin then suffered a deflected own goal to prove it wasn't going to be their day. Young Ruby Abela cracked in a "Geoff Hurst" via the crossbar, this was followed by Gemma Abela's volley to make the score ten-nil. Skipper Grace Gillard added a headed goal and a right foot strike to claim her own hattrick before Sammy Rowland rounded Lauren Brooker in the Belles' goal to end the scoring.
There is an excellent match report on the official club website which gives more detail, you can read it HERE.
We spoke with the Belles' Simon White after the game, he added....
"Whilst the scoreline was probably much more one sided than we’d hoped for it’s not that unbelievable with your squad comprising mostly what is ultimately a top Tier 3 or 4 team.
They are a very, very good side and I’d imagine that you will have many more matches like that this season.
Not sure it’ll be much fun for your opposition or useful for the squad but you can’t help what division you’re allocated to.
Hopefully they get through the divisions at a fair pace and up to a level which is competitive for them.
From our part it was still a great occasion for our club. A crowd of over 400 supporting the team showing how strong the connection is within the Belles. We’ll continue to push on, our big focus is being sustainable so it won’t be an overnight upgrade but hopefully with the foundations set it will last a long time.
Good luck for the rest of the season."
Well said Simon and thanks for all the help you gave us in promoting this game. Your team were plucky and continued to play their best despite the difficulties. Bravo to them all.
As for the performance of our ladies, the entire league will see this result and know there's a rising power in east London. Everyone played like professionals and, as Simon said (above) this is a top tier 3/4 team. We can't wait for the next game.
We've spoken to the folks of our next Opponents (Islington Borough) who told us they think they will struggle next Sunday. Read more about that later in the week, here on lofcwomen.com.

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O's line-up:

⚽ Gemma Abela Baker   ⚽ Kallie Georgie Balfour   ⚽ Poppy Binding   ⚽ Lola Duroyaiye   ⚽ Grace Gillard   ⚽ Georgia Griffin   ⚽ Ellie Thomas Leek   ⚽ Stephanie McCaffrey   ⚽ Olivia McGregor   ⚽ Sammy Rowland   ⚽ Hayley West  

SUBS:
⚽ Ruby Abela   ⚽ Esme Lancaster   ⚽ Lucy Porter  

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Belles' line-up:

⚽ Molly Bishop ⚽ Lauren Brooker ⚽ Rachel Spennylow (C) ⚽ Lilly Nellis ⚽ Holly Thomson ⚽ Natasha Ridley ⚽ Maddison Woodcock ⚽ Sky Stone ⚽ Emily Peat ⚽ Holly Wilks ⚽ Hollie Quince
SUBS:
⚽ Annabel Ferguson ⚽ Marsha Glass ⚽ Josephine Sealy ⚽ Kiera Mynott

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For those who like to see a blow-by-blow account of how the game unfolded then our LIVE-TEXT Page will show you everything from pre-match chatter, through the game itself and on to the post-match round up - just as lofcwomen.com's travelling correspondent Larry Peterson called it on the day.

Of particular interest are two spells between 26th and 41st minutes and again between the 72nd and 90th minutes when no less than twelve goals were scored in a total of thirty three minutes. You don't see that too often.

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An ever recurring question we get from our "contact us" form (it's on our Home page and at the bottom of this page) and via emails plus on social media: is.... "why would top players and coaching staff choose to play at Tier seven when they were already playing at Tiers 3 and 4?".
That's a good question. Here's our take on it....

Why indeed? We are indebted to Head coach Jason Stephen's recent interview on the club's website and to our good friend Herman (aka: Leyton Laureate) for his recent piece in "Orient Ear" to shine the light on why we have a top coaching team and a squad of players accustomed to playing at the highest level outside of the professional Women's Super Leagues.
Of course, as everyone probably knows, the Essex club Hashtag Utd are central to much of this. It was Hashtag who brought a new energy and contemporary use of social media to produce a women's team in recent years who gained a series of promotions and now play in the Women's National League, Southern Premier division which is at Tier three of the women's football pyramid. That is an amazing success story.
Since the coming of the McCaffrey family, Orient's ambitions for the women's team has rocketed into orbit and, presumably as part of that, the McCaffreys have purchased an 80% "stake" of the women's team. Quite what that means in terms of ownership or other financial machinations is beyond the scope of this article (I haven't a clue to be honest... Ed). It appears this coincided with Jason and the football crew at Hashtag looking to move their operation on to further successes but found this was not a view shared by the club's owners.
Leyton Orient must have made it known there was an opportunity for successful and ambitious people (two words synonymous with Jim and Stephanie McCaffrey) and that the infrastructure, branding and financial support was there should the right people be found. As Jason Stephens said during his interview, it was not an offer he could turn down.
This next part is a guess on our part.... Jason must have sold the idea to coaches Wayne and Craig and to a large selection of the Hashtag players that a better opportunity with plenty of advancement headroom was available at a famous London club - He seems to have done his job well!
The hitherto un-asked question is "Are these people the real deal?" - has now been answered. Pre-season games played away against tier 3 and 4 teams produced two wins and two close defeats. There was also an emphatic 4:0 win against Spurs' (a WSL-1 team) under 19s side. Then an away FA Cup tie against a mid-table tier 6 side which produced a 13:0 scoreline.... If there was ever a doubt, there cannot be now!
As fans, we're in a great position, we aim to ride this wave and, without sounding glib, we expect to see success. These people.., the McCaffreys, the coaching team and the playing squad ARE the real deal! So come on board folks, this is going to be a hell of a ride.

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Here's the list of First Qualifying Round games played on Sunday 7th September which involve GLWFL Premier division teams (Shown with a *) plus one league game:-

Cup	Bradwell St Peter	2 : 1	AFC Leyton*
Cup	London Accies*	2 : 4	Chelmsford City
Cup	Hitchin Belles	0 : 13	Leyton Orient*
Cup	Comets*	1 (4):(5) 1	Greenwich Boro
Cup	Merstham	2 : 3	Tooting Bec*
Cup	South London*	3 : 1	Carshalton Ath
Lge	Sporting Duet*	3 : 1	Luton Town Dev*

In that the game between Sporting Duet and Luton Town Development was the only GLWFL match so far this season, Duet can boast they are top of the Premier Division whereas Luton's youngsters are bottom by dint of their -2 GD. We reckon they won't be there too long.
All the other matches involving GLWFL Premier division teams were in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup. Sadly we must say goodbye to the Comets who lost 5:4 on penalties. AFC Leyton also lost out in a close 2:1 encounter as did London Academicals who went down 4:2 at home to Chelmsford City. That means we won't be playing either of our neighbours, Leyton and Accies, in the FA Cup this year.
Better news comes from our tip to win the league (if we don't win it) , that's South London WFC who took out local rivals Carshalton Athletic by 3:1. Tooting Bec made it through by winning 3:2 away at Merstham.
We'll bring you the details of the next round as soon as we get them.

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It's league action next Sunday, our first match of the season in the Greater London Women's Football League (GLWFL), we'll take on Islington Borough Ladies FC at their place. We have struggled somewhat against the north Londoners over recent seasons. Tune in here on Thursday when we'll publish our regular match preview, penned as usual by "Gizmo" who will take a look at things as the week goes by and tell us about them in his inimitable style.
The women's national football pyramid has changed a little for the coming season. The company which effectively owns and operates the top division, the Women's Super League (WSL) has now taken over the reigns at the Tier two league which was named "The Championship" last season and has now been renamed "Women's Super League 2". Unlike last season, WSL-2 is now the preserve of full-time professional women players only, the clubs also have to provide facilities and infrastructure to match the exacting standards required in what is now called WSL-1. Both divisions are now regarded as the preserve of wealthy clubs.
As we go to press, we've just learned that Orient's next match in the women's FA Cup will be an away tie at Dussindale & Hellesdon Rovers of the Eastern Region Premier division. We understand that league is at Tier four but we also understand that tier four teams do not enter the FA Cup until qualifying round three - but this is round two. Confused? So are we.
The game is set to be played on 21st September so it's almost certain our first home game, which was to be on that day (vs AFC Croydon Athletic), will be postponed. Dussindale & Hellesdon Rovers play near Norwich so it looks like another long trip.

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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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