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Leyton Orient Women inaugurate their new home ground, Cheshunt FC, this Sunday with a third round qualifying FA cup tie against Needham Market, making the journey from Suffolk.
Needham Market are a relatively old club, founded in 1919 with the women starting up in 2018. The women’s first team play in Division 1 South of the Eastern Region Women’s Football League (Tier 6), having been relegated from the Premier division at the end of the 2024-25 season. The team have adapted well to the disappointment of relegation and a decision has been made to embrace their Elsie youth pathway (aka: Girls' Emerging Talent Centres) with a number of players having made the step up to the first team from the U16s.
They have started well this season and sit second with three wins and two draws. Early indications are that Chelmsford City are favourites for the title. Needham had a smart win over Toby FC to reach this stage of the FA Cup. Their main goal threat is Annie Posnett. She has been supported by Jae Lewis-Samuel, Mia Etherdige-Golding and Keira Topple.

Orient have reached this stage by dispatching one Tier Six team, Hitchin Belles and a Tier Five side, Dussindale and Hellesdon Rovers comfortably. They warmed up for this weekend with an emphatic 14-0 league win over a game Luton Town Development side at the Betwright Stadium, aka Brisbane Road.
The team should be much the same as ever, although Lucy Porter went off with an injury in the league game, so I hope that is not serious. This reinforces Steph McCaffrey’s point about being in a position to look after your players. Sammy Rowland has been lethal so far and is well supported by Steph, Ellie Leek and Poppy Binding, back from Alabama. At the back Hayley West and Grace Gillard make a formidable pairing. It will again be interesting to see how many women we can turn out on the subs’ bench, as this is a small tightly-knit squad.
Given their record so far and home advantage, Orient will start favourites for this game but Needham Market will want to give it a good go. It would be nice to get a good turnout for the first competitive game at Cheshunt, which looks a smart non-league ground and easy to get to by car, just off the A10, or by rail (five minutes from Theobalds Grove – don’t go to Cheshunt!). They would love it if you bring a scarf to hang in the fanzone!

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Our thanks to the club and whoever shot a few video clips for the official Instagram channel of some of the goals scored in last Saturday's GLWFL game at Brisbane Road. We've put them together, so anyone can click the image below to view the ladies efforts on YouTube.

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Featured in the programme for the home match against Stevenage, here's an extract from a piece by women's head coach Jason Stephens in which he gives an update as to how the "women's project" is panning out....
First of all, thank you for the warm welcome to this great club. It is an honour to lead this exciting new women's project and to be part of Leyton Orient's future.
This summer marked a significant transition for both our senior and academy teams. We are building upon strong foundations with a clear five-year plan to reach tier three football - an ambitious target requiring four promotions. Whilst challenging, we believe this goal reflects the serious commitment Leyton Orient has made to developing one of the region's premier women's and girls' programmes, and we want you all to come along with us and help create a story, a new legacy for this great club.
Our senior coaching staff - Craig, Wayne, and I - bring proven experience from four successful seasons at Hashtag United (Tier 3), where we secured five trophies, including the 2024 WNL Cup and achieved back-to-back league runner-up positions in Tier 3. This experience has prepared us for the journey ahead at Leyton Orient. As Head Coach, our playing philosophy is straightforward: To play with no fear, to play relentless high intensity attacking football home and away, no matter the opposition, and most importantly to have no regrets, knowing we have done everything possible within those 90 minutes. As CEO, I will ensure your women's club is represented and built upon by good people, selfless people, people who care about each other and the community we represent and who put the team/club above themselves. We want players to inspire the next generation, and we want to inspire you to come and support us.

Craig Davidson and Wayne Rothon.

No club can exist without a loyal fan base and no football club can be successful without a passionate fan base. We know what this women's team means to this community and we will represent this badge with everything we have. We promise to make you proud and to create a brand of football that is admired and talked about in the women's game.
We've assembled a team of talented players with tier two and three experience who have embraced this exciting project and want to play their individual and collective part in what we all hope will be the start of something special. These women possess exceptional qualities on and off the pitch. I know you will be super proud of having these women represent your badge.
The season has begun well; we've played two games in the FA Cup and one (now two .. Ed) in the league. For those not aware, we play at Tier 7 and our first game was in the FA Cup 1st Preliminary Round versus Hitchin Belles from Tier 6. For our opponents, this was their fourth game of the season; for us, it was our first. We were excited to get going, and despite knocking on the door, it took us 30 minutes to get our first of 13 goals, winning the tie 0-13.
Our second game was our first league match, away to Islington Borough, in which we went one better, winning 0-14. Last Sunday we played the second qualifying round of the FA Cup, playing a team from Tier 5 who themselves had started the season well; however, another dominant display led to a convincing 1-5 win and set up a 3rd Qualifying round home tie against Needham Market on 5th October.
Thank you and Up the O's!
Jason.

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If you can't make it to the new home ground at Cheshunt FC this Sunday (Near Theobald's Grove Overground station) where we'll be in a third round qualifying match against Needham Market WFC. Our correspondent Larry Peterson will be there and will be messaging into our live studio (aka: our basement office) where his words and photos will be broadcast every couple of minutes (ish) onto our LIVE-TEXT Streaming service. There's no need to refresh or swipe the live text page, it automatically updates itself every 60 seconds, you won't miss a thing. There are no Ads, no cookies and there's no need to log-in to anything. The page is already posted, you can find it at: LIVE-TEXT Page We invite you to join us and follow along as the match progresses.

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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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