Barking & Dagenham 9-0 Brent
FIFTY MINUTES, FORTY-FIVE attempts at the target, nine goals, six different scorers and three points in the bag took Barking & Dagenham girls’ U11s to the top of their London Girls’ League group after a comprehensive win over visitors Brent. Holly Anderson, Ellie Mai Morgan and Emily Brown all bagged braces whilst Grace Young, Kayla Grain and Miquellah Meade all added to the tally as the hosts continue to set the early pace.
Barking & Dagenham had already had seven efforts on goal and hit the woodwork twice when they took the lead in the ninth minute. A drop-kick from the visitors’ keeper was pulled down by skipper Brown in the centre circle before a pinpoint pass picked out Anderson on the edge of the box. There followed a touch to control, a touch to set, then a touch to finish and the deadlock was broken.
Top Corner
One became two on fourteen minutes as Grace Young, who had earlier tested the keeper with a brace of fierce drives, put one in the top corner from range.
Two more were added prior to half-time. The first came from Grain’s rampage down the right wing: once free of the last defender the Richard Alibon midfielder hit a low cross-cum-shot that took a slight deflection, wrong-footing the keeper and giving Grain her first district goal.
And the other was added by Morgan’s sniffers’ finish from close range just before the break.
A change of formation for the second half saw Grain and Brown deployed as attacking wing-backs and Ianna Msekwa on her own as the final line of defence. It worked a treat as both runners had license to press forward and pin their opposition in and around their penalty area.
Instantly the move paid dividends as Grain burst forward infield, ghosting forward before playing in Morgan. She then centred to Anderson who calmly finished for her fifth of the campaign.
Five minutes into the second half, Brown was afforded similar space, this time cutting in from the left and advancing forward before driving home from outside the box.
Grain, Brown and Young all had multiple attempts to add to the scoreline before a seventh finally came courtesy of Brown’s deflected strike from twenty yards – it was the captain’s ninth of the season, equalling her total from 2017.
Gr-eight!
Barking & Dagenham weren’t done yet though as an experimental formation pushed forward for more in the final quarter of the game. Grace Young’s quickly taken throw-in on the left found debutante Ella Turner in space – and her centre was finished by Morgan for number eight.
The scoring was completed when, from a similar position, Anderson chased a loose ball down in the corner, composed herself and fired across a centre which Meade seized upon to toe-poke home from mid-range.
There was just enough time, with seconds remaining, for home keeper Maria Omotayo to touch the ball for the first time in the game, taking a late goal-kick following a rare Brent break.
However, the game was over well before then as Barking & Dagenham sent an emphatic warning to other district sides across the capital.
Barking & Dagenham: Emily Brown (Godwin); Kayla Grain (Richard Alibon); Miquelleh Meade (Henry Green); Ellie Mai Morgan (Henry Green); Ianna Msekwa (George Carey); Maria Omotayo (Roding); Grace Young (Hunters Hall); Holly Anderson (Grafton); Ella Turner (Valence)