Update: Mar 23rd 2026
- Ben's South London report
- News snippets
including: Abbi Smith goals, Orient Outlook Podcast coverage, Photo slide show and Catlin's latest work.
- GLWFL Premier round-up
- Coach Stephens says...
Ben's match report
GLWFL Premier Division
South London 0:3 Orient
Introducing Ben James, an avid supporter and regular at Orient women's games. Ben has come on board to join the ever growing lofcwomen.com crew to add his first hand view of the games. Welcome Ben, and over to you for report No 1...
As Yogi Berra, the famous baseball player and manager (and part-time philosopher) once said, "It's like deja-vu, all over again." And with these words, Orient and South London First faced each other Sunday in a GLWFL Premier League fixture for the second time in just three weeks. Last time, Orient ran out to a 5-1 home victory in a tough, physical match at Cheshunt.
This week Dulwich Village’s Griffin Sports Ground was the setting, where third in the League South London First have lost only once all season – that being a 2-1 defeat to Luton Town Developmental way back in October. Orient, coming off a 5-0 win last Sunday against Ashmount Leigh in the Capital Women’s Cup, manager Jason Stephens made two changes to the O’s starting 11 - Eva Carvalho and Lucy Porter replacing Geogia Griffin and Abbi Smith.
As per custom, Orient pushed forward right from the opening whistle, hoping to quicky breakdown their opponents. The O’s opening efforts almost immediately paid off; however, South London somehow and someway managed to clear a goalmouth scramble. Further sustained pushes into their box netted not a goal but instead a series of corners.
But finally, at the 18-minute mark, the deadlock was broken thanks to Flo Gamby’s effort hitting the back of the net. One-nil for the Orient!
Shortly after, Steph McCaffrey had the chance to double the O’s lead, but a solid save from South London goalie Amy Jenkins kept the score 1 – nil. Orient doubled the lead at 26 minutes, thanks to a corner kick from Poppy Binding being converted by a Lucy Porter header. Two – nil Orient.
From the get-go, the home side were determined not to fall victim to an Orient drubbing and focused on playing a physical game, stifling the O’s quickness. It’s certainly not pretty football, but it can be effective. This physical style does have its risks as this was plain to see when Maddie Biggs was fouled in the box, resulting in a penalty kick to the Os about 10 minutes before half time. Lucy Porter’s shot to the left post was palmed away by a diving Amy Jenkins.
A further series of corners from Orient and some counter attacking by South London, handled more than adequately by Grace Gillard, Hayley West and goalie Lola Durojaiye, did not result in any further scoring as the referee blew for half-time. Two – nil at the break.
The second half started much as the same as the first half – Orient with the pressure. Nearly immediately this paid dividends as South London committed another foul in the box. A hand ball! This time, Maddie Biggs stepped forward to take the penalty… And again, Amy Jenkins guessed correctly and dived left to parry Biggs’ kick to the left post away.
It was at this point, South London gained confidence and tried to launch a series of attacks towards the Orient goal, forcing Lola Durojaiye to make several clearances and a couple of saves. While South London’s offensive forays were dealt with swiftly and were not too threatening, it was apparent Orient were getting frustrated by their opponent’s physical approach to the match. Manager Jason Stephens was getting quite vocal – much to the bemusement of the spectators from both sides.
Credit goes to both sides on this very entertaining game and Orient’s most challenging League match of the season. Yes, the Os were the dominant team and could have easily at least doubled their goal tally, but South London didn’t give up and their goalie was outstanding. A tip of the hat to them!
A further three points puts Orient within touching distance of the League title and promotion. With four League games to play, Orient are tied with Tooting Bec on points with 42 but have two games in hand.
This said, the League must wait as the O’s next order of business is against Brentford Women B in their quarter final match of the John Greenacre Memorial Trophy at Cheshunt on Sunday, March 29.
With Orient securing a place last week in the final of the Capital Woman's Cup, a treble is still on the cards. Let’s bring this silverware to East London, ladies!
Ben James ✍
News Snippets
Abbi Smith goals last week *
The club's Instagram profile has a couple of short videos showing two great goals from debutant Abbi Smith. We were hoping to see her yesterday at South London but no luck!
Ben's slide show
Here's a Photo Slide show on YouTube featuring a few shots taken by lofcwomen.com reporter Ben James. The Os played in green.
Orient Outlook Podcast
Our eternal gratitude to Paul and Steve at the Orient Outlook podcast who continue to bring updates of the women's team to their dominant news portal. Click the link to be taken directly to the women's news section. There's plenty of other good stuff for Orient fans so if you have 1h 45m, it's all there for you.
Sunday's live-text show
If you prefer to see a full review of the game, minute by minute, as it happened, you can view it at:
lofcwomen.com's match correspondent Larry Peterson was pitchside and provided live commentary as the match unfolded. Each update is shown as Larry Reported it - never knowing what would come next or how the game would finish.
Caitlin-talks-football *
Young journalist Caitlin Kelly produces video content for most of the Orient women's games.
[UPDATE:] Caitlin's video from Sunday's game at South London is now available at Caitlintalksfootball.
Sunday's League and Cup results.
Four Premier division games and one League Cup match were booked for Sunday, the results were:-
| LC | Luton Town | 3:0 | Wealdstone |
| PL | AFC Croydon | P:P | AFC Leyton |
| PL | Islington | 0:1 | Comets WFC |
| PL | Tooting Bec | 4:2 | Academicals |
| PL | South London | 0:3 | Orient |
Luton Town 3:0 Wealdstone
A plucky effort from Division 2 Wealdstone but the recent upturn in the form and results of Premier division Luton Town Dev was a bridge too far, the Hatters move on to the next round of the League Cup.
AFC Croydon P:P AFC Leyton
AFC Leyton find themselves rooted to the bottom of the division and, as a result of scores elsewhere, must now win all three of their remaining games and hope that Comets lose all three of theirs. If that happened, Leyton would survive by a single point. That's most unlikely to happen!
Islington Boro 0:1 Comets
After a disastrous start to the season where Borough lost nearly all their players, a late season rally turned on a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. They had to beat Comets for that faint light to stay alive but, sadly, this defeat means relegation is now confirmed.
Tooting Bec vs Academicals
The relentless march of the Bec continues as they won their 12th game out of 14 played. South London's defeat to Orient means they can no longer catch Tooting. Bec cannot now finish lower than 2nd, they deserve to move up a league next season - but will it happen?
The top of the GLWFL Premier division table currently looks like this. The league season is 18 games long ....
| Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Leyton Orient | 14 | 151 | 42 |
| 2 | Tooting Bec | 16 | 30 | 42 |
| 3 | South London | 14 | 27 | 28 |
Jason Stephens says...
Jason Stephens told LOFC Media us about his football journey via the match programme for the Wycombe game. We've taken extracts from it and added updates to the printed piece, read on:-
You may know Jason Stephens as the Orient women's manager but there is far more to the former Hashtag United boss. Stephens, who joined the club from Hashtag last April, has worked in Brazil, USA, Italy, Qatar and, most unusually, in the Cook Islands as their technical director. He also lectures at the University Campus of Football Business (UCFB) based at Wembley Stadium and travels from Derby to coach the treble-chasing Os.
Stephens recalls how he and assistants Craig Davidson and Wayne Rothon moved over at the end of last term, bringing the majority of the current squad with them over the course of the next few months after opening talks with owner Steph McCaffrey, who also plays for the side.
"I believed in the Orient project and brought a load of Tier 2, 3 and 4 players with me, some of the players even played for me before Hashtag, at AFC Basildon. At Hashtag, we were punching above our weight year in, year out. Steph McCaffrey was asking us for some players so we sent some down to Orient before we joined. But at Hashtag, the league said our application for promotion wasn't strong enough and that was disappointing."
"Steph reached out to me and we saw an opportunity. We chatted and I took a leap of faith. I was dropping down levels but wanted to see how it went. We had hurdles to overcome and people were digging us out for the decision to go to Tier-7 football. But I do this for the girls, not personal gain. Steph plays in the team and I call her a disruptive influence, in a positive way! She has bags of experience and is a larger-than-life character. She is such a motivated person - but she always forgets her kit!"
Orient top the Greater London Women's League Premier Division and are on track for three trophies if they can see off the challenge of second-placed Tooting Bec. The O's are only ahead of Bec on goal difference but have two games in hand and beat Ashmount Leigh 5-0 last weekend to reach the final of the Capital Women's Cup - Intermediate level.
Stephens' team have hit double figures on 11 occasions during a remarkable campaign which will surely end with them playing at a higher level next term. The Orient boss added:
"We try to be as professional as we can be and block out all the noise and just focus on our goals. The opposition managers have been fantastic, humble, and they want to learn. There's no arrogance there.
The legacy is what's important to us. We want to leave a batch of records behind us at Tier 7 that will never be broken, like being the first team to score 200 goals and conceding less than five while not losing a match in the league. The girls will be able to look back and see what they have left behind one day. Orient are planning for Tier 2 - that has always been the plan. I have five or six older players who will see us into Tier 5, five or six younger ones who can learn from the senior players as we go up the leagues, and five or six who have room for growth." "They won't put us up more than one division this year so we will have to stay in whichever Tier 6 league we are put in."
Stephens has plenty going on off the pitch as well as on it, with his vast experience in the game creating interesting opportunities outside of coaching. He is overseeing the first year of a project which could take the Os all the way up the divisions in the future, he clearly lives and breathes football.
"I'm one of the youngest coaches in the UK to do my A-licence. I created my own style of football - Street Soccer - and got into women's football ten years ago at West Ham. From then on, it has stuck and I also work with UCFB as a course leader and I do consultancy work in understanding the multi-club ownership model.