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The Day Invincibility Blinked

Two unbeaten sides. Two tiers apart. One emphatic result.... Farnham Town WFC had swept aside all challengers in Tier 6. Leyton Orient Women had done the same in Tier 7. Both arrived at the Adobe Women’s FA Cup first round with perfect records, unshakeable confidence and high expectations. The prize? £6,000 and a place in round two. The gravity of the occasion was not lost on the locals who came to the ground in large numbers, hoping to see their all-conquering local team take down a famous name.

Coach Jason Stephens named a full-strength Orient XI, backed by seven quality options on the bench. Farnham’s good sized home crowd were giving voice in support of the ladies in claret and blue stripes. That mostly came to an end within a thirteen minute first half spell when ⚽ Lucy Porter opened the scoring, followed by a strike from The FA Cup's leading scorer, ⚽ Sammy Rowland to double the lead. To emphasise how the game was going, 🧤 Lola Durojaiye was never really troubled as she went on to claim her seventh clean sheet in eight games. The largely un-sung heroes of Orient's defensive group provide top class protection, so much so that just one goal has been conceded all season - and that was a "worldie".

Ruthless Before the Break

Farnham were digging deep, driven by the confidence borne from a 100% record that they would be able to make a come back. However, it was Orient's ability to exert near non-stop pressure that eventually proved to b decisive. Just as half-time was approaching, 🚀 Kallie Balfour and Wiki Fronc each scored stunning goals from range. It was 4:0 at the break and everyone knew it was game-over.

Second-Half Brilliance

To Farnham’s enormous credit, they never stopped fighting. For the second week running, our roving reporter Larry Peterson named the home keeper as the Player-of-the-Match in recognition of her sheer bravery and athleticism. Nevertheless, the gap in all-round ability was clear. Sammy Rowland and Lucy Porter (who grows in confidence with every game) each completed their hat-tricks, sealing an emphatic 8–0 away win for the O’s.

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We're a fan's group, our views are our own and are not to be ascribed to the club, however let’s be blunt. If Orient go on to win the Premier Division (and they’re on track to do just that) the FA must take notice from the fact that, this season, the O’s have faced three Tier 6 sides: Hitchin, Needham, and Farnham. The combined score?... Goals for: 34, Goals against: 0.
Promotion to Tier 6 would suit nobody. Not us, and not the teams in T6. The answer seems clear, to ensure proper balanced competition between the clubs, Leyton Orient should be playing at Tier 4 - at least! It’s the only way to raise the standards across the women's football pyramid. We believe this is the time for real leadership, just following the rule book will solve nothing.

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Our roving reporter, Larry Peterson, made the long trek down to Farnham's compact stadium on a nippy late autumn Sunday to do his regular phone-in of match details for our Live-Text shows. He reported that Farnham are a physically strong side and are as good as anyone we've yet to meet with the possible exception of T5 side Dussingdale who we knocked out of the FA Cup at the second qualifying round stage in September with a 5:1 scoreline. All Larry's match remarks can be seen by viewing our completed Live Text page here.
Enjoy the pre-match build up, the team sheet details and re-live the afternoon as it unfolded, blow-by-blow, minute by minute.

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Each year, 'Mitre' present an award to the highest scorer in the women's FA Cup. Going into Sundays first round, our own 'Super' Sammy Rowland was equal top in this regard as follows:-

Cleo Rawlings - Millbrook Ladies - 11 goals
Sammy Rowland - Leyton Orient - 11 goals
Keri Mallinson - Penrith - 10 goals

On the basis that both Millbrook and Penrith were eliminated on Sunday, it's likely that Sammy is now in the lead on her own as she bagged a hat-trick. There were some very big scores up and down the country so perhaps there's a new name to add to the list. We'll keep an eye on this and let you know how it all pans out.

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Leyton Orient is the only Tier Seven club still in the Adobe women's FA Cup. Our GLWFL premier division colleagues at South London WFC lost 5:0 to Tier 4 side Fulham on Sunday. Fulham are top of their Tier 4 league with 100% win record so that was a pretty good effort by the Tier 7 ladies, particularly as they had to play without the suspended Niamh McKevitt. Fulham are the only team we've played whose players have their names emblazoned on their jerseys - they are professionals. There are a few Tier 3 sides who came a cropper against lower league clubs so perhaps the gap in ability between Tier 7 and Tier 3 isn't so wide in some regions?
We look forward to round 2 (the draw will be made on Monday evening 27th October), the competing teams will all be between Tier 3 and Tier 6 - except us from Tier 7. The draw is still made on a regional basis in order to control the costs. The full-time pros in WSL2 will join at the 3rd round which then becomes a nationwide event.

STOP PRESS -As we publsih this, we learn that Orient's next opponents are AFC Bournemouth, they are full-time professional who are currently in second spot in the southern region of Tier 3. This will be a mountain to climb. More later.

Sunday's GLWFL Premier division scores:

Lge	AFC Leyton	1 : 2	Tooting Bec
Lge	Luton Tn Dev	2 : 2	AFC Croydon
Lge	Sporting Duet	3 : 2	Islington Boro

AFC Leyton nearly got something for their efforts but Tooting Bec's Emily Murray and former Burnley star Bryony Bancroft hit the goals that continue their strong showing in the Premier division. We play AFC Leyton (away) next Sunday and Tooting Bec will visit us in the BetWright stadium at Brisbane Road the following Sunday.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to us was Luton Town's Development team getting a 2:2 draw against title hopefuls AFC Croydon Athletic. Croydon's failure to win means we retain our top position in the Premier league and now have two games in hand on most of the chasing pack. Now that Luton have recently beaten South London and drawn with Croydon, we assume some major changes have been made at the Bedfordshire club so we no longer regard them as likely relegation candidates, quite the opposite in fact.

Islington Borough continue to struggle since the loss of most of their team at the start of the season. A hat-trick from Duet's Olivia Woodward trumped the brace scored by Borough's Andrea Chan so that Duet are now sitting nicely in 2nd spot whilst Borough are in the 2nd relegation place and must have an eye on catching Comets who are just above them. It's very unusual to see Comets at that end of the table.

The basic GLWFL premier division table is shown below, The full (and automatically updated by the league) table can be viewed HERE

Pos	Team	Played	GD	Points
1	Leyton Orient	4	+45	12
2	Sporting Duet	6	+7	12
3	Tooting Bec	5	+4	12
4	AFC Croydon Athletic	6	-3	11
5	London Academicals	5	-2	9
6	South London WFC	4	+6	7
7	Luton Town Dev	7	-18	7
7	Comets WFC	6	-11	6
9	Islington Boro	5	-17	3
10	AFC Leyton	6	-11	0

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Our appreciation and thanks to the folks at Farnham Town Women's FC for shooting video footage of what will have been a disappointing afternoon for them - and for making it publicly available. Enjoy Orient fans....

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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. We read every message without fail.

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