Mid Essex 1-2 Barking & Dagenham

ANOTHER GLORIOUS SPRING morning saw Barking & Dagenham girls stretch their unbeaten run to ten games, topped off by Chi-Chi Musa-Onyeka’s electric first-half display. Thrust from her regular defensive duties into a starting place up front, the skipper wrought havoc throughout the opening third of the game to put her team into a strong position, before dropping into more familiar territory to see out the game.

With all-time top scorer Aysia Matabaro missing through illness, Barking & Dagenham knew they faced a massive challenge. Especially against a team who had completely outplayed them earlier in the campaign, with Mid Essex deservedly running out 4-1 winners that day.

Step Up

Mid Essex’s athleticism and ability on the ball certainly proved a step up from the opposition Barking & Dagenham have faced of late, but Musa-Onyeka was up for the fight right from the off.

It took just six minutes for her to register her first, picking up possession within her own half before embarking on a devastatingly direct advance on goal that saw her finish with aplomb past the keeper for 1-0.

And it was 2-0 just three minutes later when the captain again shown tremendous acceleration and power to burst clear like an explosion, before burying an unerring drive into the bottom corner.

Musa-Onyeka could have had a hat-trick on sixteen minutes when St Peter’s classmate Lara Sousa Franco won possession and tee-ed her up for a firm attempt on target from the edge of the box.

That time though, the Mid Essex keeper pulled off a stunning diving stop to tip the ball way for a corner and was on hand again a minute later to pull off a remarkable double save from the same player following Hazel Walker’s long ball over the top.

The other main attacking threat for the visitors came via the tricky feet of winger Elizabeth Dimitrova. Erin Taylor’s lay off from Walker’s corner saw her first attempt blocked before Dimitrova caused panic again with a direct run down the right that once more forced a smart save.

Unlucky

As half-time loomed, the hosts began to gain a foothold into the game and were unlucky not to pull one back. A chasm of space opened up in the Barking & Dagenham penalty area, but just as the ball was about to be converted, up popped Amaya Amaning for a vital block on the line to maintain a clean sheet for a while longer.

And Kornelija Klimaviciute’s scrambled stop a minute later would also prove a crucial moment and ensured her side went into the break with a two-goal cushion in-tact.

They would need it.

For much of the second half, Mid Essex came in waves, testing and teasing Barking & Dagenham’s defences for any signs of weakness. Amaning and Musa-Onyeka held firm though, with Walker moving back from midfield to assist, such was the ferocity of intent from the home side.

And when – with eighteen minutes remaining – Mid Essex grabbed one back to more than kindle hopes of a revival, it looked as if the home team would be favourites to score next once again.

Fierce

But the Barking & Dagenham team who folded under Mid Essex pressure back in October are very different from the one who lined up here. And whilst they had the post to thank for maintaining the advantage with ten minutes to go, the visitors battled fiercely to keep the lead they had worked so hard to establish.

Sousa Franco and Taylor got through an enormous workload in the closing stages to support their defence, but it was Dimitrova’s determination and intelligent play that really caught the eye: one minute skipping past a series of challenges before drawing a fine save out of the home keeper for the BAD Girls’ first attempt on goal of the half; the next, sprinting back to make a last-ditch tackle to repel yet another Mid Essex attack.

Winning headers, tackles and threatening on the break, her performance was typical of Barking & Dagenham’s characterful display against a talented offensive team who examined the visitors’ resolve throughout.

But it was a test that the district side came through once again, and one that will stand them in good stead against the other strong opposition that lies in wait at the business end of the season.

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), Hazel Walker (Parsloes), Chioma Musa-Onyeka (St Peter’s), Lara Sousa Franco (St Peter’s), Erin Taylor (The Leys), Honey Thomas (James Cambell), Kornelija Klimaviciute (Parsloes)