Feb 2nd 2026
- Match report - Sporting Duet
- Min by min review
- GLWFL Round-up
- Ladies to play at Brisbane Rd
- Esme Lancaster says
Match review
Sporting Duet (H)
Sunday's Greater London Premier Division match finished 18:0 to the ladies in red. Yes! Eighteen - Nil. At this point, we’re not even sure whether to call it football or performance art. Either way, we’re pretty confident it’s the biggest scoreline in the club’s history — unless someone once won 19:0 in 1923 and forgot to mention it. If you know different, do let us know please!
The 18 goals and clean sheet bumps our goal difference to 124 from ten games, which is the sort of number you normally see in basketball! Nevertheless, here we are. Do the maths, the average goals-per-game is unbelieveable.
As for Sporting Duet... Remember them? They are the only team to score a league goal against Orient this season. They did lose 14:1 whilst doing it and, after the game, some of their fans (not the players and staff) accused us of having “millions” and being “arrogant”. Millions? If only. Arrogant? Well, after today, it probably seems like that to them. Let’s just say the Orient girls looked motivated enough to maintain the relentless onslaught they are famous for.
"Let's get this done ladies"
The stats show the goals coming as:-
- Hat-tricks for Poppy Binding, Georgia Griffin and Lucy Porter
- Doubles for Gemma Baker, Eva Carvalho and Wiktoria Kiszkis
- Singles from Hayley West, Grace Gillard and debutant Macie Windsor
All this despite the squad being six big names missing. Six! Most teams lose one player and start to worry. We lost Steph McCaffrey, Ellie Leek, Lois Heuchan, Wiki Fronc, Kallie Balfour and top-scorer Sammy Rowland... All of whom would be regarded as automatic first team starters. However, we did bring on three newcomers — Macie Windsor, Edie Miller and Isobel Irvine — each of whom got minutes in the second half and fitted right in, they each looked sharp and skilled. Richie Wellens must look at this conveyor belt of talent and think, “Where’s my version of that?”
Young striker Macie Windsor marked her Orient debut with a goal, she nearly got two more. Edie Miller and Isobel Irvine looked comfortable in such illustrious company so the future looks bright for the Orient ladies. A quick look at Macie (if we have the right lass) sees experience at Seawards, Millwall, Hashtag and junior footy at Spurs, West Ham.... Hopefully, we can find some info about all three soon and introduce them to Orient's growing fan base.
Back to the result... Some may say these scorelines are getting ridiculous. To be honest - that's fair comment, but when we win the league (and we will), the women’s FA will have a puzzle to solve. Nobody wants another season of Orient running up basketball scores, so hopefully someone in an ivory tower somewhere will apply a good deal of common sense about where we play next year. The up-coming capital cup game/s will indicate to one-and-all how we would fare if we were already in a tier six league. Both of last years' promotees from our league into Tier 6 (Camden Town and Hammersmith) are romping away with their league this year. There's not that much difference in quality between Tiers 6 and 7 it seems.
Just to be clear - this is our view as an independent fan's group. We don’t speak for the club, officially.
Minute by minute account of the game
We're happy to report that our viewer stats for our live-text shows continue to increase, yesterday's figure topped out at 203 around the middle of the game. The only game which saw more was for the unfortunate FA Cup defeat to AFC Bournemouth.
Sunday's game was our first broadcast with some new software aimed at simplifying the layout for our users and speeding up our ability to bring you the latest news within 60 seconds of it happening. There are a few minor bugs to work on but generally it went well. To view all the action as reported by Larry and his crew, visit LIVE TEXT * DUET HOME
We look forward to your company for the rest of the season and your feedback about the new service, it would be most helpful.
GLWFL Round-up
For the second Sunday running, there were just three Premier division matches played, the other two fell to the weather again.
Sunday's GLWFL Premier division results:
| L |
Comets |
P : P |
Luton Town |
| L |
Islington |
1 : 7 |
Tooting Bec |
| L |
Orient |
18 : 0 |
Sporting Duet |
| L |
Academicals |
4 : 2 |
AFC Croydon |
| L |
South London |
P : P |
AFC Leyton |
Islington Borough 1:7 Tooting Bec
Another week goes by and our friends at Islington Borough look in desperate trouble. A 50th minute strike by sub Andrea Chan only slightly dented Bec's assault on top spot. We can't foresee the south Londoners catching us for the league title but they are current favourites to claim the runners-up spot - just as Hammersmith did last season and they were offered (and accepted) promotion to a Tier six league which they are currently dominating. Every point is vital for the Bec ladies, they deserve it.
London Academicals 4:2 AFC Croydon
Oh boy did we get this one wrong! We tipped AFC Croydon to have too much for mid-table Academicals but the home ladies hit four past the southerners to take the three points and move up to fourth spot in the premier division. Our apologies to our Walthamstow neighbours, we won't underestimate you again.
Queens Park Rangers - at Brisbane Road?
On Sunday, 15th February, the famous blue and white hoops of Queens Park Rangers will pay a visit to the Os. This will be a 3rd round tie in the 'Capital Cup' - Intermediate level.
We overheard a conversation in which it was claimed the girls will play the famous west Londoners on the hallowed turf (and synthetic bits!) at the BetWright stadium at Brisbane Road. This is to be confirmed but we're quietly confident and overjoyed the girls will get to play at a proper football stadium against a big name club. Put it in your diary... and be there!
Esme Lancaster
Esme Lancaster says...
If there was a poll asking "who is the fans' favourite women's player?" the answer would probably be Esme Lancaster. Always available to play, does tons of the midfield hard work, provides excellent protection on our right flank, wins her duels and makes first class use of the ball when she gets it.... and is as cool as a cucumber!
It fell to Esme to tell her story in the matchday programme for the home defeat to Port Vale and thereby provide the only bright spot of a grim day for the faithful. If you missed it, we have reproduced an updated version of it here...
ESME LANCASTER HAS TAKEN WHAT SHE LEARNED IN AMERICA BOTH ONTO THE PITCH AND INTO HER JOB IN THE CITY OF LONDON AS SHE LOOKS FOR SILVERWARE TO CAP OFF A STUNNING SEASON.
As with many women's footballers down the years. America has been the place to go in the past and it was no different for Esme Lancaster.
The full-back, who signed for the Os from Hashtag Utd in November 2024, obtained fantastic football experience and also academic qualifications Stateside setting her up nicely for a career in the City of London in insurance which she does to this day. She said:-
"It was an unbelievable experience in America, playing football was all I wanted to do at the time. It was THE thing to do - to go out there and play at eighteen and spend five years in the US. Before that, I hadn't even been on holiday to the US so I was buzzing to go. I started out in Texas where I graduated with my associate's degree and finished at Northwestern University in Ohio with my bachelor's degree in business. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I worked in coaching and the plan was to come back to England and then play elsewhere In Europe."
The defender’s return to England saw her play for several clubs in Essex before finding her way to Orient right at the very start of the ownership of the McCaffrey family. Owner Steph McCaffrey, now a team-mate, had helped Esme to rediscover her love of the game here in East London.
"I joined West Ham for a couple of years, then Billericay and Hashtag and now Orient. I came over from Hashtag before some of the others, I didn’t know if I wanted to play football any more but then I went out on loan to Orient and spoke to Steph about my situation and about what they were planning to do at Orient. It’s brilliant, Orient were one of the top women's clubs back in the day but they had to start again. The club are a few leagues down and it is good that someone has taken the gamble and I am sure we will be successful here. Steph is very committed and a great person to have around and who is also very business-minded".
Esme admits it can be stressful balancing the demands of her city job with playing and training. She explained, "Football is still a big part of my life, I'm 32 now and keep saying each year I'll retire, but I am quite football-orientated and have built some good friendships in the game. I played with the majority of the girls at Hashtag before and it’s hard to bring yourself to stop when you love the game so much. My job working in the city and commuting is quite tiring as is working football around that. It can be hard at times but I love doing it."
Given the ambition of the club's owners, wanting to reach Tier 3 and beyond in the coming years. Lancaster hopes she can stick around to be one of the players to help lead them into the brave new world.
"I hope I can be a part of it for a few years and contribute towards the project here. I just want to help and I feel that I have some attributes of leadership that I can bring. We have to make sure we have that motivation each Sunday as we're not used to the level nor the grounds we play at. It wasn't our choice to be in this division. People have to remember that - although some complain about us winning big every week."
It hasn't always been easy to keep pushing this team given how dominant they have been but Lancaster hopes there will be opportunities to play in front of the home crowd at the BetWright Stadium again to showcase their talent before the campaign is out. She added:
"A lot of the goals we score are worldies and really, we are more like a Tier 3 team. We don't let our standards slip and it’s our job to keep morale up and our motivation high. If we enjoy what we're doing, it's a lot easier. We have great experience in the squad and a really good group of girls. I hope we can play in the stadium again before the season is out. I think we did that four or five times last season and hopefully, these girls will get the chance to do that. It's just great for us playing on such a nice pitch - or a 'Carpet'. It’s ideal for the football we play. "
Original words: Matthew Nash
