Brentford Women B continued their winning streak and remained unbeaten this season following a 5-1 win against AFC Leyton in the Greater London Division One North.
Goals from Shania Foley, Kasey Clifford, Abi Claringbold and two strikes from Holly Hawkes sealed another impressive win for the Bees.
It took the visitors just 20 minutes to break the deadlock after dominating the opening stages of the match. Clifford won the ball in midfield with Hawkes flicking her pass out wide towards Lillie Elsbury; the full-back delivered a cross into the box which was met by Foley who tucked the ball home.
A minute later, Brentford were at it again with Elsbury the creator for the second time, this time she beat two players on the left flank before finding Hawkes with a low cross. The forward took a few touches to steady herself before lobbing the AFC Leyton keeper with an excellent chip from just inside the box.
Despite all of Brentford’s dominance, the away side pulled a goal back on the half-hour mark when a counter attack ended in a cross into the box, which Samantha Jones attempted to clear but unfortunately turned into her own net.
Brentford gave themselves some breathing room with another goal just before the break. Foley forced a mistake out of an AFC Leyton defender before finding Hawkes, who picked out Clifford on the edge of the box. The attacking midfielder did incredibly well to hold off her marker before slotting her shot into the top left corner making it 3-1 on 42 minutes.
It was a quieter second half with both sides creating little chances, until the Bees found the net again on 70 minutes.
A Karen Abou-Abdallah pass found Aleksandra Dzikowska on the left flank, whose powerful shot towards goal was beaten away by the AFC Leyton keeper, but the ball fell into the path of Hawkes who grabbed her second of the game.
Amber Langston made her first appearance since 2022 following the recovery of an ACL injury, with the defender earning vital minutes as she looked to build her fitness levels before returning to the first team.
Just before the full-time whistle was blown, the Bees grabbed another to make it 5-1 when Claringbold was awarded a penalty after being brought down inside the box. The striker smashed her spot kick into the right corner to round off a great performance from the women’s B team.
Speaking on the win head coach Tommy Ryan-Maynard said he was most impressed with how his team managed to control the game throughout.
He explained: “AFC Leyton had some quick players, so I was pleased with how we remained aware of the counter-attack, we were able to stop that threat by keeping the ball and controlling the tempo of the game which was great to see.”