Hackney 0-1 Barking & Dagenham
IN A GAME WHERE chances proved few and far between, Tolu Elufowoju’s thirteenth goal of the season was all that separated hosts Hackney and holders Barking & Dagenham in a hard-fought Southern Counties Cup quarter-final in East London.
The decisive moment came in just the second minute, when a simple pass up-field split open the Hackney backline, prompting Elufowoju to pounce from half-way. A succession of powder puff challenges were no match for the buoyant skipper who – off the back of eight goals in her previous two matches – powered into the box before bundling the ball over the line from close range to stun the home side with a goal that owed as much to endeavour and persistence as it did to flair and skill.
It was similar qualities that were needed from Barking & Dagenham for the remainder of the match as the balance of play was locked in a midfield arm-wrestle, with neither side able to penetrate the others’ defences to any real effect.
Bright moments came through Jaydee Williams, Amelia Hussain and Raima Hossain down the flanks, but both goalkeepers remained otherwise untested in a scrappy and listless half.
Knowing they needed to gain a foothold in the game, Hackney shuffled their pack, looking for a way through.
But, for every question that was asked of them, Barking & Dagenham had an answer, with the rearguard of Laura Ameny, Chloe Ajewole and the determined Rusne Rimkeviciute simply refusing to yield.
Backed up by the industry of Atene Skendelis and Dominiyka Petrauskaite, dropping back from midfield, not a single attempt on the visitors’ target was registered throughout the second half despite the relentless pressure and increasingly frenetic home attacks.
Instead, it was inspirational playmaker Jasmine Amrane who came closest to adding to her side’s tally, with a twenty-five-yard piledriver that fizzed towards goal, blasting through the keeper’s hands, and deflecting directly off her face, before spinning wide of the post… to oohs and aahs from both sides (for very differing reasons!).
From the resulting Amrane corner, Elufowoju reacted first, drawing a point blank save before twisting and turning to improvise a further follow-up chance that spiralled just over the bar from inside the six-yard box.
And that was it. For all the chaos and fury of their opponents, Barking & Dagenham remained in control, protecting their advantage and seeing out the remaining minutes with relative calm.
It was a different way of winning to recent weeks, which have seen the district side take eleven goals from their last two Essex Girls’ League fixtures, with myriad chances and end-to-end excitement.
This one was a battle. But a battle that Barking & Dagenham deservedly won.
Barking & Dagenham: Ajewole (George Carey), Skendelis (Godwin), Williams (Goresbrook), Arhin (Northbury), Hossain (Northbury), Hussain (Richard Alibon) Petrauskaite (Richard Alibon), Elufowoju (Rush Green), Stoute (Rush Green), Rimkeviciute (William Bellamy), Amrane (Gascoigne), Ameny (Valence)