Barking & Dagenham 8-0 Chiltern & S. Bucks

AT LONG LAST, Barking & Dagenham finally found their shooting boots as the girls’ borough U11s registered the kind of score-line their recent performances have threatened to produce. With ruthless precision, four goals in each half summed up an emphatic display that also brought about a third clean sheet in as many games and a maiden district hat-trick for Southwood playmaker Mia Green. 

The early phases were played within a crowded centre third of the pitch – the visiting Chiltern & South Bucks. side determined to defend the edge of their penalty area with resolve.

Space

In response, Barking & Dagenham pushed their wingers wider with instructions to exploit the space on the flanks.

The move paid dividends immediately. Pearl Brown’s tenacity won possession just inside the Chiltern half. Then Aysia Matabaro showed poise and intelligence to hold up play through the inside left channel, with the majority of the visiting defence drawn to meet her. A switched ball back into the vacant space saw Zoe Freeman in acres of her own on the right-hand edge of the penalty area. Two touches later and an unstoppable blast was whipped into the far corner and Barking & Dagenham were up and running.

Seconds later, it was two. Freeman stole the ball back from kick-off, with Matabaro again finding the flanks. This time she picked out Lara Sousa Franco cutting in on the left before spreading the ball to Freeman, her opposite number on the right.

As the Chiltern back-line shuffled across, Freeman perceptively sent a far-post cross back the other way, returning play to Sousa Franco on the charge. With the ball about to run out of play, the St Peter’s midfielder coolly kept possession with a hooked pass over her shoulder. And there was Green, on hand to meet the ball on the half-volley,  rounding off a stunning team goal.

Midway through the first half, the result was put to bed when Hazel Walker’s corner was helped on its way by Green following her near post run. In a crowded area, Freeman’s back-heel was then blocked on the line, as was her second attempt, before the ball fell neatly to Green to poke home for her second of the game.

Standards

Three goals to the good, the remainder of the match proved an opportunity to set the standards for games to come – a chance Barking & Dagenham seized with relish.

It was another dangerous Walker corner that brought the fourth. With the ball flashing across the face of goal, Green almost profited with a first-time volley that was scrambled clear.

Moments later, Walker was following up to fire a shot at goal from the edge of the box. The attempt was struck the turned back of a defender and the hungry Sousa Franco was on hand to convert the loose ball as Barking & Dagenham went into the interval with room to spare.

After the break the chances continued to come. Sousa Franco almost had a second from Matabaro’s corner, however her goal-bound attempt was deflected wide at the last second.

And Sousa Franco turned creator moments later, picking out Matabaro on the right with a devastating through ball that was zipped across goal first time to be met by the onrushing Chi-Chi Musa-Onyeka. A fine save denied the skipper for the first time, the second following five minutes later when Erin Taylor and Charlotte Bryant combined to play Musa-Onyeka in once more.

With the game entering the final quarter, Barking & Dagenham once again put their foot well and truly on the throttle.

Saves

Matabaro returned to a central striking position and registered her nineteenth of the season within seconds, mugging a hesitant Chiltern defence in their own penalty area before converting from two yards out.

Matabaro, Sousa Franco, Bryant, Musa-Onyeka and Walker all had further opportunities to add to the tally, only to be denied by a string of fine saves from the impressive visiting keeper.

However, she was powerless to stop any of the next three that came her way though as Barking & Dagenham stepped up their finishing in the final throes of the game.

The pick of the lot was the sixth: Matabaro again held up play with her trademark strength and composure before pinging an arrow-like ball into the path of Walker, who had taken up her spot on the wing. Walker’s first touch was exquisite, her second perfection, and the third unerring as the ball found the bottom far corner with aplomb.

The next one wasn’t bad either, Freeman picking up on a loose ball twenty-five yards out to slot a sumptuous finish into same corner for 7-0.

And from a central position, the scoring was completed when Freeman gobbled up a stray goal kick before threading through Green for a side-foot effort into the back of the net for a well-deserved hat-trick.

Eight goals without reply didn’t flatter Barking & Dagenham. It was a confident, polished performance from a squad brimming with talent. The challenge ahead will be to replicate this impeccable team display in the games to come. If they can manage it, there seems no limit to what this group of players can achieve.

Barking & Dagenham: Amaya Amaning (Warren), Pearl Brown (Rush Green), Charlotte Bryant (Roding), Zoe Freeman (Rush Green), Kadie Gibbs (James Cambell), Mia Green (Southwood), Aysia Matabaro (Roding), Chioma Musa-Onyeka (St Peter’s), Lara Sousa Franco (St Peter’s), Erin Taylor (The Leys), Honey Thomas (James Cambell), Hazel Walker (Parsloes), Kornelija Klimaviciute (Parsloes)