Barking & Dagenham 6-2 Merton
ANOTHER SATURDAY AND ANOTHER win for Barking & Dagenham as their unbeaten start to the 2024/25 season continued with victory in their opening London Girls’ League rubber against Merton. With absences in the ranks of both sides, the hosts seized their opportunity to take the points with Teresa Ezea, Aaliyah Felix, Simonette Johnson and Lily-Mae Fisher all on the scoresheet.
Just twenty-eight seconds were on the clock when the opener came.
Skipper Felix strode through the centre of the park before laying off to Ezea, who skipped past two beleaguered defenders before unleashing a low drive that was too hot for the Merton keeper to handle, deflecting off her palms and nestling inside the upright for the ideal start.
Direct
And the second came on the quarter-hour mark when Felix once again forced her way directly through a series of brittle challenges until she found herself in the penalty area, bearing down on goal. The captain showed no mercy, smashing home from twelve yards to double the lead.
In the immediate aftermath, Felix and Ezea both saw well-struck efforts land narrowly wide, but Johnson showed no such profligacy, cutting onto her right foot through the inside left channel before curling a sumptuous top corner finish from the edge of the box.
With half-time approaching, Barking & Dagenham’s high press worked its magic, Felix profiting from the turnover to fire home her fourth of the season, and her teams fourth of the game.
By the interval, it was all over bar the shouting, but Barking & Dagenham remained hungry for more with Fisher denied in the opening minute of the second period, and Paloma Correia going close shortly after.
Stellar
It did not take long for number five. Johnson’s second stellar performance in as many weeks saw the St Peter’s midfielder power straight down the centre of the pitch, holding off defenders left and right, before coolly slotting past the onrushing keeper as she approached the penalty spot.
Merton hit a post to keep Barking & Dagenham on their toes, but the home side looked like adding to their score whenever they chose.
Fisher came closest, showing flashing feet to engineer a chance for herself inside the box, cutting sharply onto her right-foot before blasting what looked a certain goal. But the attempt lacked the bend of Johnson’s earlier strike, the ball landing agonisingly wide.
It was an apt moment then, when Fisher eventually managed to convert her first district goal, although much of the legwork was down to the ever dangerous Johnson who began the move skipping down the right wing and driving at the heart of the Merton back-line.
An audacious attempt from an acute angle was tipped onto the crossbar by the visiting keeper, with the ball landing in the no-man’s land between the save and the back stick. And there, swooping in, was Fisher – hungrily gobbling up the opportunity to make it six.
What could have been a well-deserved clean-sheet was prevented late on when a brace of needless fouls resulted in free-kicks in and around the Barking & Dagenham goal.
Both were expertly converted in stunning fashion – but by then it was a case of denting the home side’s pride rather than gaining a foothold in the game.
Hunger
Once again, this cohort of BAD Girls have a hunger for scoring all kinds of goals, having netted twenty-six so far in just seven matches. It took seventeen games to reach the same milestone in the previous campaign. If the same proficiency can be employed to shore up the other end, the victories will keep on coming.
This is the first time since 2018 that Barking & Dagenham have not begun a season as holders of the London Girls’ League. On this evidence, it may not be the case next time round.
Barking & Dagenham: Grace Attwood-Adams (The Leys), Paloma Correia (George Carey), Theresa Ezea (St Peter’s), Aaliyah Felix (Goresbrook), Lily-Mae Fisher (Roding), Bella Hines (Richard Alibon), Lily Imititikua (St Peter’s), Whitney James (Rose Lane), Simonette Johnson (St Peter’s), Bella Yorke (Northbury)