Brentwood Draw in East London

That was the mentality from Brentwood Ladies 1s on Saturday as they faced an in-form East London side, who hadn’t lost a game yet and had the home advantage. Brentwood were missing stalwart Emily Wright and young gun Lauren Blackburn but this only seemed to spur them on and Brentwood went ahead early after a goalmouth scramble where Beth Jamess and Lily Wiltshire were both determined and the final touch went to Lily for 1-0. From that point, you knew it was going to be a tough game with both sides determined to score. Lorna Parsons was strong in goal, saving from an awkward reverse strike and holding her ground. However, it was East London who came up with the goods, equalising from a short corner which was well taken, despite Lorna stretching and getting a touch on it. Brentwood rallied and Zoe Hall, returning from a break, was strong bringing the ball out from defence releasing the midfield. Nat Gilder was strong on the right, combining well with Anna Guida and Fran Hayden, who both lived up to their reputations of fighting for every ball. Despite injury, Haylee Adams was still managing to track back and beat the East London attackers to loose balls and Lisa Payne and Shirley Osmotherly combined well on the left, trying to release the forwards to get that all important next goal. Lizzie Tyler got into great positions and ran the East London defence ragged and Bev Simmons doggedly hassled for every ball from the front. However, again it was East London’s determination that prevailed and they were 2-1 up with 15 minutes to go. At this point in the past, you might well have been expecting Brentwood to accept their lot but not this group and, despite East London working around the back to keep possession and lock Brentwood out, the final breakthough came in the dying minutes when Lily received the ball on the right and played the perfect quick pass for Bev to strike low across goal and into the left corner. A final score of 2-2 and a well-deserved point for the battling Ladies 1s.