Hackney 0-1 Barking & Dagenham

A MOMENT OF MAGIC from Barking & Dagenham skipper Chi-Chi Musa-Onyeka dragged her team to victory in the London Girls’ League against a rugged and battling Hackney side, intent on making up for their 3-0 defeat in the Southern Counties Cup earlier in the season. Her deft finish was all that could separate the two sides, the result seeing Barking & Dagenham top Group Two with a brace of first round matches to go.

Before then, the visitors had been thwarted by a combination of bad luck, stern defending, and a lack of precision in front of goal.

The first opportunity came in the fifth minute, when Hazel Walker’s lay-off to Aysia Matabaro saw the district’s all-time leading scorer jink past the final defender before unleashing a fierce drive at goal. The Hackney keeper’s positioning meant she held firm for the first of several attempts that picked her out with eerie regularity as the goal lay seemingly at Barking & Dagenham’s mercy.

Grateful

The next came three minutes later, when Musa-Onyeka’s long throw-in set Matabaro off and running down the left. A cut inside, a centre into the box, and there was Lara Sousa Franco inside the six-yard area to sweep the ball into the goalie’s grateful arms.

Next, it was Walker again, pulling the strings in midfield before breaking down the right midway through the first half, and cutting back to Zoe Freeman who had drifted in from the left. From an awkward angle, the Rush Green playmaker had to deal with a difficult ball, but was nonetheless left frustrated when her opportunity looped harmlessly into the gloves.

From the subsequent misplaced drop-kick, Walker almost profited amidst the mayhem but, overall, the game seemed to be descending into a scrappy, mud-soaked bunfight – which suited the hosts’ physicality rather than the passing style of the visitors.

That all changed with the introduction of Elizabeth Dimitrova and Mia Green twelve minutes before the interval, with the former providing genuine width on the wing and the latter exquisitely spreading the ball across the pitch like a knife through butter.

Finally, Barking & Dagenham were trying to create, rather than force, openings with Green picking out Matabaro on the left wing before her precise cross led to Walker’s attempt being saved.

Bemused

And on the other flank, the visitors were left bemused when Dimitrova went down in the box, with two hands in her back, and appeals for a penalty were waved away.

She soon brushed herself off though and, two minutes after half-time, came the closest to scoring so far. Matabaro’s through-ball split Hackney’s backline, picking out Dimitrova on the right-hand vertex of the eighteen-yard box for a first-time finish that arched towards goal before bouncing behind off the foot of the upright.

Surprisingly though, that attempt was all that either side could muster in a fiercely fought second half battle that saw Barking & Dagenham press forward for an opener and Hackney threaten on the break.

Apart from, that is, Musa-Onyeka’s decisive intervention.

Usually deployed on the left of a back three, the captain had enjoyed a dominant display, winning tackles and challenges, as well as popping up in the middle third to threaten Hackney’s rear-guard from time-to-time.

Dangerous

A decision to move her into a central striking role though paid immediate dividends when Walker, alert to the power and pace now available down the middle, launched an up-and-under behind the hosts’ backline into a dangerous area.

Musa-Onyeka was first to react, sprinting through to reach the bouncing ball before lofting a deliciously weighted finish over the onrushing keeper with the outside of her outstretched right boot.

From that point, there was nothing anyone could do as her sublime touch at last found the gaping goal and the skipper wheeled away in delight.

Less than sixty seconds had passed from her deployment up front to the lead being taken – but what an important minute it proved to be.

Immediately, Musa-Onyeka slotted back into defence and – alongside fellow dogs-of-war Amaya Amaning, Pearl Brown and the outstanding Kadie Gibbs – ensured that keeper Honey Thomas’s third clean sheet of the campaign remained intact.

Barking & Dagenham shuffled the pack to see out the game, keeping fresh legs in key positions, and managing the final quarter of the game with no real alarms.

Westminster and Tower Hamlets await in the group games to follow, with further wins essential if Barking & Dagenham want to make it four London Girls’ League titles in succession.

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)