Woking Dev. 1-3 Barking & Dagenham

IT’S FIVE GAMES UNBEATEN now for Barking & Dagenham as their fine form continued with a 3-1 victory on the road against an experimental Woking team at Brookwood Farm. Tolu Elufowoju’s return to the side from the bench saw the Rush Green striker’s excellent brace add to Dominyka Petrauskaite first district goal as the visitors were given a firm test ahead of their Essex Girls’ League opener against Chelmsford next week.

Petrauskaite looked lively from the start, latching onto skipper Jasmine Amrane’s through-ball in the fourth minute before drilling a low shot into the arms of the keeper from fifteen yards out.

Amrane also looked in the mood, robbing the Woking centre-back of possession two minutes later before looming down on goal. Again though, the resulting effort was comfortably saved.

One-Way

It was one-way traffic at this stage.

Petrauskaite saw another daisy cutter almost wrong-foot the keeper from a similar position to her earlier effort and Amrane connected with an Atene Skendelis through-ball to blaze over in the thirteenth minute.

The pressure had to take its toll. Inevitably, it was Amrane who was the creator, calmly collecting Amelia Hussain’s square ball before laying off to the onrushing Petrauskaite to calmly slot home, this time her attempt finding a gap and nestling into the back of the net for a fifteenth minute lead.

Hussain, on debut, again showed her growing confidence two minutes later, this time switching play from the right wing to the left, where Petrauskaite came close to adding to her tally with a rasping first-time howitzer from twenty-five yards that stung the palms of the home keeper.

And fellow debutante Amelia-May Wilks produced a confident low block in goal, coming swiftly off her line to snuff out any hopes of a Woking foothold in the game.

Rifled

The second came seven minutes after the first: Amrane was proving a constant menace, popping up in a central position to smash a goal-bound attempt against a brave defensive block. The loose ball fell perfectly though for the predatory Elufowoju who set herself before rifling an unstoppable blast into the vacant space to the keeper’s right for 2-0.

Moments later, Elufowoju had an ideal opportunity to stretch the lead further, sprinting onto centre-back Chloe Ajewole’s scooped ball over the top. But this time the subsequent attempt lacked the ferocity of her earlier effort, letting Woking off the hook with half-time approaching.

Whereas the first period had been comfortable for the visitors, the second was a different story. Woking shuffled their pack and, with Barking & Dagenham doing the same, the pattern of play began to shift.

Still though, Barking & Dagenham restricted the hosts to half-chances for much of the half before finally adding to their lead with a flowing move from back to front.

It was Ajewole who again broke up play before calmly playing out to her captain, Amrane. The Gascoigne midfielder spread play out to Jaydee Williams on the left flank who slid a ball in behind the Woking back-line, inviting the keeper to come off her line and collect. Elufowoju was alert to the situation however, sensing hesitation to steal in and get there first, flicking a deft first-time lob over the goalie, which bounced over the line for her third in her last two appearances.

Concentration

Seemingly cruising now, Barking & Dagenham’s concentration dropped in the closing stages as the spirited hosts – who had been playing their way back into the game for a while – began to take advantage of the visitors flagging legs.

First, Barking & Dagenham conceded a needless penalty with eight minutes remaining. Having saved two spot-kicks in last week’s ESFA Cup shootout with St Albans, Northbury stopper Francisca Arhin showed remarkable consistency to save a third in succession to maintain her side’s three-goal cushion.

Then another double save from Arhin a minute later kept her side in it as she scrambled around on the floor in the six yard box to hang on to her well-deserved clean sheet.

She was powerless though moments later when the late Woking pressure told, weight of numbers (along with a fair lick of craft and guile) on the edge of the box eventually finding a way through to give the home side the consolation their second half display deserved.

Upward

Despite the setback, it was another encouraging display from the ever-improving BAD Girls. Having failed to score in their opening five games, with two defeats in their first three, their form continues its upward trajectory.

Two draws and three wins in succession shows how far the team has come as the build-up to the Essex League campaign continues. With Chelmsford and Basildon to come in December, two more victories would see the district team round off 2022 in fine style.

Barking & Dagenham: Ajewole (George Carey), Skendelis (Godwin), Williams (Goresbrook), Arhin (Northbury), Hossain (Northbury), Petrauskaite (Richard Alibon), Ameny (Valence), Rimkeviciute (William Bellamy), Amrane (Gascoigne), Wilks (Godwin), Elufowoju (Rush Green), Hussain (Richard Alibon)