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On Sunday, 14th September, Leyton Orient Women started their Greater London Women's Football League (Premier division) season with an overwhelming 14-0 victory over a much weakened Islington Borough side. The recent history between these two clubs has been one of tight matches with mostly shared honours, the north Londoners having a slight lead in results over their opponents from E10. For this season, both clubs had seen an almost complete turnover of playing staff during the summer but their experiences couldn't be more different.
Islington lost the majority of their first team players, many of whom joined a newly formed club down in Tier Nine where their two league games so far has netted them 10-0 and 6-0 victories. This has left Islington with a mountain to climb in terms of replacing so many premier division quality players at short notice, a circumstance which leaves them facing a very difficult season. Orient, on the other hand, have also changed the bulk of the first team such that not a single player remains who started the first game in the previous season. However, the draw of playing for a well-known football club, the excellent facilities, the renown training staff and the all-round benefits available meant that the O's were able to recruit a team of highly skilled, athletic and experienced individuals to improve the quality of the playing staff to a level Well beyond even our wildest hopes as fans.
The usual Orient problem of not taking chances was not evident in this match, goals rained down in the 3rd, 7th, 10th, 23rd, 35th and 37th minute effectively ending the contest just after the half hour mark. A red card dismissal before half-time for Islington's Amanda Kresge didn't help their cause in that the remaining ten would then need to work even harder to try and stem the tide. It has to be said, the home ladies ran themselves into the ground in an attempt to put up a good honest fight, their plucky attitude didn't go unnoticed on the touchline where their gallant efforts were appreciated by both sets of fans. Having to face Orient's latest new recruit who turned out to be something of a star (more about that below) only made life that much tougher for the battling IBLFC ladies.
Nevertheless, the tired legs of the home team began to tell as the game wore on, evidenced by five goals going in during the final fifteen minutes of the game. For the sake of the record, the scorers were Poppy Binding (4) - Stephanie McCaffrey (3) - Lois Heuchan (3) - Sammy Rowland (2) - Grace Gillard (1) and Wiktorija Kiszkis (1).
A quick shout-out for Lucy Porter who finally got the ball in the net - only to have it ruled out for an offside infringement somewhere. There were loud cheers from the fans which immediately turned to groans as they realised it wasn't going to count. A good hearted moment of fan/player connection there.
If they didn't know already, the entire Greater London league will have seen this result and, combined with the previous Sunday's thirteen goal outcome, will know the rising power in east London is something tangible and significant. Isn't it great to be in this position?

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O's line-up:

⚽ Gemma Abela Baker   ⚽ Poppy Binding   ⚽ Lola Duroyaiye   ⚽ Grace Gillard   ⚽ Lois Heuchan   ⚽ Esme Lancaster   ⚽ Ellie Thomas Leek   ⚽ Stephanie McCaffrey   ⚽ Lucy Porter   ⚽ Sammy Rowland   ⚽ Hayley West  

SUBS:
⚽ Ruby Abela   ⚽ Kallie Georgie Balfour   ⚽ Wiktorija Kiszkis  

Missing through injury or in recovery are ⚽ Georgia Griffin,   ⚽ Wiki Fronc. News from the club is that none appear to have serious problems so we look forward to seeing them return quite soon. All three are major players for the team and have great value.
Islington's line-up
Helena Bates - Andrea Chan - Annie Farrer - Romy Fernandez Reumann - Jennika Kelly - Amanda Kresge - Alison Lucy Loperena Cendan - Honor Nesbitt - Kirsty O'Mailey - Riinu Pae - Emely Santos.

Sub's bench
Leah Ellement - Nicole Grainger - Nell Tindale - Rudi Wilmshurst

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Having learnt during last week that a "signature signing" was on the cards but without knowing a name, it was with some excitement we looked for a new face at Islington, it was there we met Lois Heuchan, a Scottish player with a glittering playing history. Lois had played most recently for Lewes WFC in the championship (as was, now called WSL-2), before that she played for London Lionesses as they were coming up the leagues, earlier for Charlton Athletic (again in the Championship) and before that Lois was at Celtic.
With a record like that, we expected to see a prodigious talent on display - which is exactly what we saw. Our roving reporter, Larry Peterson (and colleagues) reported in that we'd signed a "gem" and they had no hesitation in voting her the Person-Of-The-Match. So it's a warm welcome from us Lois, we wish you all success and enjoyment here at Leyton Orient.
Lois has a photo (it's an old one for the present) added to our Players' Gallery, this latest signing brings the number of first team registered players up to twenty two.

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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.
Wiktoria Kiszkis was sporting a vivid new hairdo which initially made us think there was another new signing in prospect, we certainly won't mistake her identity with that bright topping! Instagram users can see Wiktoria revealing her new coiffure to everyone by clicking HERE
It was also good to see Jade Keogh taking part in the pre-match prep. Jade was the central defensive king-pin last season, we hope to see her do her stuff in the first team in the not-too-distant future. Larry said it was nice to bump into a couple of Orient long-termers in the shape of defenders Layla May Duffield and Courtney Miller, we hope you are both doing well. Everyone appreciates you coming along to support the new team.

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Here's the list of Sundays GLWFL Premier division results:-

Lge	AFC Leyton	0 : 2	Sporting Duet
Lge	Comets	0 : 1	Tooting Bec
Lge	Islington	0 : 14	Leyton Orient
Lge	Academicals	5 : 4	Luton Town
Lge	South London	4 : 4	Croydon Ath

AFC Leyton will be disappointed to lose their first ever Premier division game particularly as they'd finished last year as Division One champions yet were beaten by last season's Division One runners up. Two quick goals in the 63rd and 64th minutes by Asta Briem and Hannah Dalgleish (what a great footy name!) gave the points to the south London side who are now top of the league having played two games (and won them both) to nearly everyone else having played just the one.
It's always a close fought match when Comets and Tooting Bec face off and so it transpired again where a single goal was enough to take more points back to the deep south. Lucy Hearn did the damage in the second half. Orient's home game against Tooting Bec will, like last season, be played at the BetWright stadium at Brisbane Road.
Luton Town Development could be forgiven for thinking that scoring four goals away from home should've been enough for them to break their duck - having lost to Sporting Duet on the previous Sunday. But goals from Emily Clark, Carla Todd and two from Gabriella Henry earned them zero points as London Academicals hit five of their own. Our next league match will be against Luton Town on 28th September, that match is currently due to be played at the BetWright stadium at Brisbane Road. Be there!
Finally, the battle of the south London giants, they are our pick to be our toughest competition, cancelled each other out by sharing eight goals. Two each from South London's Rachael Todd and Johanna Andersson were not enough to make home advantage pay. We were booked to play Croydon Athletic next Sunday (21st September) but we have an FA Cup match that day so meeting Croydon will have to wait until later in the season.
The latest table standings can be seen at the FA's website . It's also always available via the grey option on our MENU page.

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Like most people, we learn a lot about what's going on in and around the club by tuning in to the Orient Outlook Podcast who have this week released their 400th edition. They've been going since 2014 which is a magnificent accomplishment. They also get all the top movers and shakers to contribute to their shows which demonstrates the trust they enjoy from the boardroom to the changing room. We can tell you, that is not easy to achieve!
To listen to the entire podcast (we recommend that - it's a little over two hours), click on the their logo image (above) and that will link you to their YouTube audio - no login required.
On this episode, there are two sections of particular interest to us. To save you searching for them, here are two links which will take you to the beginning of each section.
The first link is to where their guest speaker, Martin Ling, responds to a question from us regarding who are the leading people in control of the women's team. This is what he had to say...
We understand there has been a significant change at the top since last season, Martin said he is no longer in charge of the women's team these days and that Olivia Worsfold is also no longer involved. So now it's clear, it is a McCaffrey/Stephens led project. We're seeing the changes very clearly now and given what we've learnt so far - we're all for it. We wish Olivia all the best, she has been a central driver of the women's progress over several years and deserves recognition for that.
The second link is to where Paul & Steve update their army of listeners about the recent women's results and add a little background for good measure. This is how they described things...
As always, our thanks go to the guys for their unwavering support of Leyton Orient Women's football.

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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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