Fans of Leyton Orient Women

13 April 2026

Monday Update:

• Ben's Islington cup-tie report
• News snippets
  including: Live Text review, Abbi and Ellie dual registrations, Outlook podcast, players' gallery
• GLWFL League & cup round-up

Ben's match report
GLWFL League Cup semi-final
Orient 12:0 Islington

Our weekly match report from our own Ben James, an avid supporter, marketing guru and regular at Orient women's games.

It was the GG² Show for the O’s

📷 Ben James

After a fixtureless Easter weekend, the ladies were back at it Sunday at Cheshunt in an encounter against Islington Borough in the semi-finals of the John Greenacre Memorial Trophy (JGMT).
Islington are no strangers – with this being the third encounter between to the two teams this season. The previous two meetings, both being GLWFL Premier League fixtures, resulted in decisive 14 – 0 and 12 – 0 victories for Orient.

📷 Ben James

The absences of Steph McCaffrey and Abbi Smith necessitated coach Jason Stephens making changes to his starting eleven. Stepping up were Georgia Giffin and new signing Bria Abbiati, a native of Massachusetts. Thankfully the bench was not too depleted as Ellie Leek made her return to the team.
Lining up for kick-off it was quickly observed that O’s captain Grace Gillard was not in her usual centre back position but instead was playing as an attacking midfielder or forward. This switch paid off immediately as she scored the game’s opening goal within 60 seconds of the opening whistle. One – nil Orient.

📷 Ben James

A few minutes later, Islington’s bad luck continued as they were forced to make a substitution due to one of their players getting a nasty knock from some incidental contact in midfield. Their troubles grew shortly after when Gillard netted her second goal, converting a Poppy Binding corner. Two – nil Orient after six minutes.

Further goals from Maddie Biggs and Georgia Griffin made it four – nil Orient before Esme Lancaster was cautioned at the 25-minute mark for a foul against a Borough player.
Egged-on behind the Islington goal by a boisterous local Cheshunt boys’ team (who had earlier in day won their league title) goals from Wiki Fronc and Griffin’s second made it six – nil Orient. It could have been seven at half-time; however, Macie Windsor’s strike into the back of the net was disallowed.

Into the second half, coach Stephens made his first substitution with Ellie Leek replaced the impressive debutant Abbiati.
The O’s continued to pour on the pressure but the valiant Islington goalie made some good stops to keep the score as it is. Unfortunately for her and her teammates, Griffin clinically slotted one home for her hat trick at 52 minutes. A couple of minutes later Ellie Leek scored to make it eight – nil Orient before the hour mark, just as a brief rain shower started to pelt the pitch.
Whilst the Islington goalie was forced into action for most of the match, her Orient counterpart Lola Durojaiye had a quiet day at the office as Islington rarely ventured deep into the O’s half. I doubt if she minded that too much.

📷 Ben James

After 70 minutes, Eva Carvalho and Olivia McGregor came off the bench to replace Esme Lancaster and Maddie Biggs. The Islington manager also made his final substitutions, replacing some very exhausted players.
Despite the game heading into its closing 20 minutes, the pressure from the O’s did not relent with Gillard scoring her third and Griffin with her fourth, making it 10 – nil. Both players celebrated their goals with their enthusiastic Cheshunt fan club (who unfortunately would not see their favourite, Macie Windsor, score).

📷 Ben James

Griffin’s fifth and Gillard’s fourth just before 90 minutes wraps-up the scoring to make it 12 – nil and booking a trip to the JGMT final against Tooting Bec, who ran out 3 – 1 winners in their match against Luton Town Development.

Despite the entire squad playing their part today, it really turned into the GG Squared Show. Starting Griffin and moving Gillard to a forward role paid off in spades, giving coach Stephens something to think about going into future games. The debuting Bria Abbiati played like she had been in the squad for months, adding more firepower to the O’s arsenal.

📷 Ben James

Next up for the ladies is a GLWFL Premier League match next Sunday against Walthamstow-based London Academicals. Despite it being an “away” match, it will be played locally to Leyton at the Douglas Eyre Sports Centre on Coppermill Lane (E17 7HE).

A victory against the Academicals and a League loss by our JGMT cup finalists Tooting Bec (who will play the always tough South London First) will all but guarantee the GLWFL Premier League title and promotion for the O’s.
The quest for a treble of silverware is still on course.

Ben James ✍

News Snippets

Review of Larry's LIVE-TEXT show

To read the blow-by-blow report sent in from our match correspondent Larry Peterson, click to re-live all the action - as it unfolded - plus some news, as it came in, direct from the touchline.

You can tune in to our LIVE-TEXT broadcasts for all the women's games. There's no sign-in required, we don't leave cookies on your device (ever!) and you won't need to keep refreshing the page to make sure you have the latest info, we do all that automatically. If you can't get to a game, follow along with us - live. We post links on lofcwomen.com a day or so before each match.

Dual Registrations

It was nice to see the return of Ellie Leek Thomas into the red Orient kit for Sunday's game. Ellie and Abbi Smith are players who have dual registration, they can play for two teams in the same season so long as the clubs are not in competition with each other. Abbi was not available on Sunday, it's likely she played for her home club Billericay Town who ply their trade in tier 3 at the moment (but lost 8:0 on Sunday). Ellie Thomas Leek recently joined Bolton Wanderers, a tier 5 outfit, who have completed their season so she was free to rejoin the Os for this game, her favourite club we understand! Hopefully we will see more of her as our season nears the end.

Player's gallery

📷 Larry Peterson

Hopefully, everyone will already know that we keep our comprehensive photo gallery up to date and, where available, we have images with the ladies in Orient kit and, better still, in playing action. To that end, we're proud to include latest signing Bria Abbiati into the gallery. You can view it at lofcwomen.com gallery or via our Menu page.

Orient Outlook Podcast

If you prefer a brief overview of the match - and have someone read it out for you, look no further than Paul and Steve at Orient Outlook Podcast, staunch supporters of the Orient Women's project. Click the image below to go straight to their "women's update" report on the Islington cup tie. No subscriptions or login required.

Sunday's results.

Here are Sunday's results. Two Premier division games and the two league cup semi-finals:

AFC Croydon moved to one point behind Sporting Duet in the premier division, the former have now completed their league programme, the latter have four games left to find the single point which will see them finish fourth in the table. Duet's 5:0 defeat to South London sees them finish mid-table in their first season in the top GLWFL division. Well done to them.

Both Islington Borough and AFC Leyton will remain in the (normally) two relegation spots. They will be replaced by returning Brentford B side and United Dragons, winners of the two Division One leagues, (South and North).

The other League Cup semi-final saw our main rivals, Tooting Bec, win 3:1 at Luton Town. It seems to be this season's destiny that Tooting and ourselves will meet to decide everything. Next Sunday, 19th April, Tooting must not lose at South London (assuming we beat London Academicals) - if they do, we will be champions. Let the chips fall where they may!

The GLWFL Premier division table looks like this.
The league season is 18 games long ....

Next Sunday sees the O's ladies play away at near neighbours London Academicals. A full preview will appear here on Thursday.