Woking 1-11 Barking & Dagenham
IT WAS A MAGNIFICENT seven for Barking & Dagenham forward Aysia Matabaro as the borough girls ran in ten second-half goals against hosts Wokingham in a devastating and relentless attacking performance. James Cambell’s Elizabeth Dimitrova also grabbed a hat-trick as well as putting Charlotte Bryant’s maiden district goal on a plate to complete an impressive 11-1 win.
Barking & Dagenham got off to the perfect start when Chi-Chi Musa-Onyeka’s first minute throw-in from the left flank caught the home defence by surprise, striking an outstretched hand in the box. Matabaro confidently put the ball on the spot before smashing it into the back of the net in emphatic style.
The early strike proved to be the highlight of the half though for Barking & Dagenham as they spurned a multitude of opportunities to extend their lead. Musa-Onyeka, Matabaro, Dimitrova and Zoe Freeman could all have increased the score but all either fired wide, over the bar or against a defender’s lunging boot.
Going into the interval, Barking & Dagenham had registered a dozen attempts on goal, yet Matabaro’s spot-kick remained the only effort on target.
Fluent
That all changed after half-time when a fluent Barking & Dagenham move cut through the Wokingham defences like a red and black scimitar.
It was right-back Pearl Brown who started it off, winning possession in her own half before sliding a ball up the line to Dimitrova. The tricky winger duly cut inside before picking out Freeman drifting into a central position from the opposite flank. Freeman then found Lara Sousa Franco who passed on to Matabaro before a quick one-two with Freeman once more set the striker free.
Matabaro’s first effort was blocked by the feet of keeper Rebecca Davies, but the rebound fell straight to the Roding hitwoman on the follow-up as she calmly stroked home to double the lead.
Then all hell broke loose.
Freeman was again the provider, this time teeing up Dimitrova who finished neatly from just inside the box.
Seconds later, Matabaro was in again to grab her hat-trick before adding a fourth with barely five minutes of the second half played.
With confidence brimming, Freeman feinted deliciously past her marker twenty yards out before blasting a fierce strike with her left foot from the edge of the area. Davies did well to get in a block, but the scavenging Matabaro foraged the remains to make it six.
Perfect
With the game now secured, Matabaro was withdrawn from the action: however, with Roding schoolmate Bryant deputising up front, the momentum continued as Mia Green’s perfect through-ball set her off and running before a well-struck effort from a central position was tipped wide.
Dimitrova’s subsequent set-piece was a masterclass in corner taking, with her wicked delivery swinging straight into the danger zone. It would probably have gone straight in by itself, but Bryant wasn’t leaving anything to chance with the briefest of touches deflecting the ball across the line.
Dimitrova didn’t mess about with the next one. Picking up the ball in the inside right position, she advanced on goal unopposed before slapping one into the top corner from twenty yards in the most spectacular of fashions.
The visitors had added seven goals in ten furious minutes to leave their Berkshire opponents shell-shocked.
One Back
But then Wokingham went up the other end and pulled one back.
For once, Barking & Dagenham failed to close down Imogen Barker just inside the left touchline and the home midfielder lofted an exquisite lob just behind the visitors’ backline for Imogen Heyler to smartly finish.
It was to prove a blip however: Barking & Dagenham were back up and running within moments. This time Green pinged a perfect pass precisely to Dimitrova who skipped past her marker before centring to the advancing Erin Taylor. Her first-time effort whistled just wide of the post and into the side-netting as the away side went in search of a ninth.
Next, Dimitrova hit the stanchion of post and bar from twenty yards and Taylor went close for a second time, showing an impressive turn of pace and a devastating sleight of hand to force another stop from Davies.
Eventually, it was Dimitrova’s hat-trick that got things back on track as she seized upon an errant goal-kick before Matabaro, reintroduced as her replacement, made it double figures in replica fashion.
The scoring was complete with four minutes remaining when Green strolled through midfield and caressed the ball between the advancing defenders, straight into the path of ruthless Matabaro. Two touches later she had taken her tally of district goals to twenty-four – and her eleventh against Wokingham across the past two campaigns.
Barking & Dagenham now host ever-dangerous rivals Woking in the ESFA National Cup on Saturday. They will do so having made the strongest of statements about their attacking power and intent.
Barking & Dagenham: Amaya Amaning (Warren), Pearl Brown (Rush Green), Elizabeth Dimitrova (James Cambell), Zoe Freeman (Rush Green), Kadie Gibbs (James Cambell), Mia Green (Southwood), Aysia Matabaro (Roding), Charlotte Bryant (Roding), Chioma Musa-Onyeka (St Peter’s), Lara Sousa Franco (St Peter’s), Erin Taylor (The Leys), Honey Thomas (James Cambell), Hazel Walker (Parsloes)