Barking & Dagenham 8-0 Tower Hamlets
THE LETHAL DUO of Gracie Jones and Aysia Matabaro combined to register seven of Barking & Dagenham’s eight goals without reply in the district side’s latest win in the London Girls’ League. Rehema Okungu was on hand for the other, but it was the Roding and Grafton forwards who proved the scourge of the Tower Hamlets’ backline for the early table toppers.
The opener was registered with just five minutes on the clock as Matabaro, who by now had already struck the post and seen a further attempt whistle just wide, seized upon a loose ball across the box. Composed under pressure, Barking & Dagenham’s leading scorer unselfishly laid the ball off to the better-positioned Jones who buried a surgical strike into the bottom corner for the lead.
Hungry
Within a minute, it was two. Marcella Sibbons-Setal’s lob over the top bounced between the visiting defence and keeper, and it was Matabaro who was hungriest, steeling in to net her first of the day.
Jones reciprocated Matabaro’s earlier gift by sliding a perfect pass into her path for her second before Eva Young played the ball of the day into the danger zone for Matabaro’s second hat-trick in three games.
By now, Barking & Dagenham were rampant and looked like scoring with every attack. Young, Jones and Matabaro all had further attempts, before the latter was tee-ed up once again by Jones to make it 5-0.
And when Marcheri Sherriff’s long-throw split the visiting defence once again, Jones was on hand to establish an unassailable lead going into the break.
More?
The score-line afforded an opportunity to experiment and rotate as Barking & Dagenham continued to press for more.
Two minutes after the resumption, Jones’s outstretched boot narrowly evaded Young’s whipped cross and the hosts continued to threaten without ever adding to their tally.
Frustrated by the slowing of the scoring, skipper Sherriff took matters into her own hands, thrusting through midfield on a powerful run before unleashing a rocket from thirty yards that would still be travelling now had it not been for the crossbar cannoning the ball back into play.
Two minutes later, Sherriff was at it again with a brace of chances that terrified the Tower Hamlets goal. Young’s effort from the edge of the box was then tipped over and Sibbons-Setal’s run almost yielded a seventh.
Eventually, with ten minutes remaining, it finally came. Sibbons-Setal again was the source, flashing through the inside right channel before unleashing an attempt that brought a fine save from the Hamlets’ keeper. Okungu was on-hand to convert the rebound however and the hosts were back up and running.
In similar fashion, Jones wrapped up her first district hat-trick with the last kick of the game. Matabaro’s initial effort was well-saved but Jones was sniffing around the box for any loose scraps and duly obliged with a calm finish.
Barking & Dagenham: Tobechukwu Edoka (George Carey), Gracie Jones (Grafton), Aysia Matabaro (Roding), Rehema Okungu (George Carey), Marcella Sibbons-Setal (Monteagle), Marcheri Sheriff (Grafton), Dalia Wyszczelska (Hunters Hall), Eva Young (Hunters Hall), Rihanna Zaman (Hunters Hall)