Barking & Dagenham 5-0 West Kent
FIVE GOALS FROM five different scorers took Barking & Dagenham three points clear at the top of their London Girls’ League division as a comprehensive second half demolition job accounted for West Kent. Makayla Smith had given the home side a slender advantage before the break but super-subs Mariam Daisy Ngobo Azeez and Nour Khalfaoui both scored one and made another in a clinical second half display.
It was West Kent who had the first chance in the opening minute, hitting their hosts on the counter attack as Maisie Hagger brought a smart diving save out of Hannah Embery in the home goal.
And a series of robust challenges from Barking & Dagenham needlessly put themselves under pressure with a succession of set pieces for the visitors.
Fierce
However the district girls always looked dangerous with their attacking players deployed with vim and precision.
First, Pahris Cotterell and Millie Blythe combined to play in Smith before a last ditch sliding tackle denied her a certain goal. Then Blythe, Cotterell and Gabriella Gomes all had good chances to open their accounts for the day during a physical and fiercely contested first period.
In fact, it took until two minutes before half-time for the deadlock to be broken: Cotterell’s inswinging corner brought chaos in the box as Smith showed determination and improvisation to volley home from within the crowd.
Stunned
Ngobo Azeez replaced Cotterell up-front after the interval and doubled the lead within five minutes. Alisha Johnson’s long clearance looked to be rolling through to the West Kent keeper when, judging the ball to be safe, she was stunned by the pace of Ngobo Azeez who ambushed the loose ball before being driven out wide. Ngobo Azeez still had a lot to do from the right hand byline; however, from a seemingly impossible angle, the Godwin forward kept her composure to bend a curling left foot finish between the uprights and the scrambling West Kent rearguard.
Five minutes later, Ngobo Azeez turned provider after Cotterell picked her out midway into opposition territory. Spreading play out wide, Ngobo Azeez found Blythe cutting in from the left before the skipper unleashed her twentieth district goal into the roof of the net from fifteen yards.
Comfortable
Comfortably ahead now, Barking & Dagenham began to pick off chances at will. Blythe’s pass to Khalfaoui was squared first time to Cotterell who lashed in to make it four. Then Khalfaoui almost extended the lead with the next attack when Cotterell’s visionary switched ball behind was volleyed just over inside the area.
The same pair combined moments later though when Cotterell gained possession in her own half, sprinting the length of the pitch and centring to her team-mate to devastating effect.
That made it 5-0 in a performance that was one of the best for many seasons. Barnet await in the final London Girls’ League group game but it will the the long trip to Gloucester next for the district girls as their impressive start to the season goes from strength to strength.
Barking & Dagenham: Babatunde (Richard Alibon); Embery, Blythe, Johnson (Valence); Gomes (St Joseph’s Dagenham); Ngobo Azeez (Godwin); Cotterell (Manor Longbridge); Khalfaoui (Hunters Hall); Smith (Henry Green)