Barking & Dagenham 7-0 Gloucester

FOR THE FOURTH TIME in five seasons, Barking & Dagenham booked their place in the final of the Southern Counties Cup – on this occasion thanks to a scintillating display against visitors Gloucester. With all fourteen squad members purring like a precision machine, the borough representative side ran through the gears with ruthless efficiency to rack up seven goals without reply. Tricky winger Elizabeth Dimitrova bagged a second hat-trick of the season while Aysia Matabaro’s brace, Hazel Walker’s second half finish, and a maiden district goal for Erin Taylor, capped off a fabulous performance full of attacking intent.  

Knowing that their opponents had endured a lengthy journey to arrive in time for the game, Barking & Dagenham flooded forward from the outset: a breath-taking sequence of rat-a-tat raids into Gloucester territory signalling the home side’s intentions.

Six Minutes

In every one of the first six minutes, they registered an attempt on goal.

Zoe Freeman was first to be in the action, drawing a comfortable save from the Gloucester keeper after fine work from Matabaro and Mia Green saw her set free along an otherwise vacant right flank.

And it was the same route that led to Freeman’s second sighter, this time her low-drilled effort flashing across the face of goal and narrowly wide of the upright.

Pearl Brown initiated the next sortie, winning possession in the middle third before finding Green in space. Play was once more spread wide to the dangerous Freeman, whose crossed picked out Matabaro in the box, only for Barking & Dagenham’s all-time leading scorer to be denied with a save from point blank range.

Matabaro and Green both saw decent attempts gathered by the visiting keeper in the fourth and fifth minutes but there was nothing any Gloucester player could do about the sweeping move that led to the opener in the sixth.

Beginning on the edge of Barking & Dagenham’s own box, the ever-composed Amaya Amaning played out from the back, picking out Lara Sousa Franco on the left. Her initial switch to Freeman was blocked but Brown quickly won back possession before finding Green. Play was switched to the right again, where Freeman was waiting in acres of space. With perfect weighting, her first-time cross fell straight at the feet of Matabaro at full pace who sprinted clear of the last defender, slotting into the bottom corner for the goal Barking & Dagenham’s play so richly deserved.

And there was more to follow.

Eerie

The second came on nineteen minutes when Walker scavenged possession back around the edge of the penalty area. With defenders drawn towards blocking her shot, she instead opted to lay off to Dimitrova who finished from ten yards with eerie intent.

Barking & Dagenham were now in full flow, with Brown, Amaning, Chi-Chi Musa Onyeka and Kadie Gibbs forming a formidable backline that immediately repelled any Gloucester advances.

In turn, the home side’s midfield could dominate, with Dimitrova proving a threat out wide.

The third came though through a moment of individual brilliance. Matabaro found time and space in a central position, looked up, and picked her spot from twenty-five yards for a third top-quality first-half finish that put Barking & Dagenham into a dominant position going into the interval.

Any hopes of a Gloucester revival were quashed immediately after the restart when Musa-Onyeka’s long throw-in from the left travelled deep into the visitors’ penalty area, with Matabaro stealing in behind before squaring to Walker for a fourth.

For the fifth, Matabaro was once again the architect, sprinting clear to chase a long ball out from the back before holding up play and calmly feeding Dimitrova for her fifth of the campaign.

Probing

The pattern continued when Musa-Onyeka launched yet another ball into the danger zone from a further probing throw-in; this time Dimitrova was the beneficiary as she reacted first for a left-foot shot inside the six-yard box to complete her hat-trick.

And the scoring was completed when hesitancy in the penalty area brought a seventh and final goal. Freeman’s free kick from thirty-five yards out dropped in behind the wall where Taylor was waiting. As others watched on, the Leys forward made no mistake, smashing the leather off the ball from four yards out for the goal her spirited endeavours deserved.

Just as impressive as the seven goals scored, were the none conceded. Both keepers – Honey Thomas and Kornilja Klimaviciute – had barely any work to do, against a side that had racked up thirty-four goals in their sixteen games so far this season. That spoke volumes for the hard work and talent ahead of them as Barking & Dagenham limited their opponents to minimal touches in their box.

Meanwhile, since the start of December, Barking & Dagenham have conceded just two goals, keeping five clean sheets in six games, and netting twenty-five times at the other end.

Next up are Tower Hamlets, with Barking & Dagenham looking to wrap up their London Girls’ League group in top spot as they look to defend the trophy they have held since 2018.

Barking & Dagenham: Amaya Amaning (Warren), Pearl Brown (Rush Green), Charlotte Bryant (Roding), Elizabeth Dimitrova (James Cambell), 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)