Brentford Women move to within a point of league leaders Clapton Community after a comfortable victory at the Old Spotted Dog Ground.

The Women’s first team put on a professional display as they dominated their title rivals away from home. Nikki Saunders opened the scoring for the Bees on 44 minutes after a brilliant solo goal with Chloe Logie sealing the win in the second half taking the number nine to 19 goals for the season.

After last weekend’s emphatic Capital Cup win the Bees had plenty of momentum as they travelled to East London to take on league leaders Clapton Community.

The Women’s First team started well and had an early chance when Mollie Holmes clipped a great pass over the Clapton defence finding Logie but the number nine didn’t catch the ball well and her shot on goal went just wide of the post.

Mollie Holmes

Saunders looked dangerous going forward for Brentford and her long-range strike on 11 minutes forced Clapton’s Jalina Belle into making a good save.

The visitors were playing nice flowing football with it only looking like a matter of time before they found the back of the net.

Kirsty Matthews came agonisingly close for Brentford when her brilliant curled effort from just outside the Clapton box crashed against the post, leaving the hosts extremely fortunate to still be on level terms.

Clapton’s one and only chance of the half came courtesy of Maria Mendon, the winger cut inside from the left flank and unleashed a shot towards the Brentford goal, but Azza Fouly had it covered as the ball went wide of her far post.

Just a minute before the break the Bees took the lead through an amazing solo goal from Saunders.

Saunders celebrates her goal with Freya Worsley

The left winger showed great skill to beat two players on the touchline before cutting inside and smashing the ball into the roof of the net from close range, putting Brentford in front at half-time.

The away side made a strong start to the second half as they looked to extend their lead and nearly did so through Logie.

Matthews played a nice chipped ball over to the striker but Logie saw her shot deflect off Clapton defender Chelsie Osborne before going out of play.

Clapton had a good chance to get themselves back on level terms on 59 minutes when substitute, Marta Perez got onto the end of a cross and tried to sneak her shot in at the near post, fortunately for the Bees, Fouly got down fast to make a smart save.

After controlling possession Brentford managed to get their second of the game on 82 minutes through top scorer, Logie.

Women’s first-team captain, Holmes played an intelligent ball to her teammate who peeled off the Clapton defender giving her space to head the ball home and adding to her outstanding goal tally for the season.

Five minutes later the home team thought they had pulled one back when Marta Cajanovas found the back of the net, only to be denied by the offside flag.

The Bees were extremely impressive as they continued to play slick football in all areas of the pitch leaving the Clapton players frustrated during periods of the game.

Brentford showed no sign of nerves in what was a huge game for both teams with the Clapton supporters in full voice throughout but the visitors saw out the game in comfortable fashion and travelled back to West London with all three points.

Karleigh Osborne’s thoughts

Following the victory, head coach Karleigh Osborne was left extremely proud of what he saw from his side.

Speaking after the game, Osborne said: “I’m over the moon with that win, we showed a lot of determination but also displayed the quality we have and I’m really pleased with what I saw from everyone today.

“We expected a tough challenge today with it being first vs second, but we played really well and dominated the game away from home.”

Osborne was full of praise following Saunders’ brilliant goal which gave his side the lead just before the break.

Osborne addresses his team before kick-off

“I’m really happy for Nikki, it feels like it’s been a while since she last scored so I was waiting to see something from her and she certainly delivered.

“That goal came at the perfect time for us and it was deserved because we had been playing some great football up to that point.”

Brentford controlled possession throughout with Freya Worsley, Mollie Holmes and Sophie Troth at the heart of everything that Osborne’s team did well in the middle of the pitch.

The head coach went on to talk about how influential the midfield trio is to the team as they continue to impress.

“The three in midfield seem to complement each other really well, they understand each other’s game and keep us ticking, we are very balanced within the central area of the pitch so it was great to watch that trio put in another strong performance.

“Freya is excellent on the ball with her passing, Mollie and Sophie are able to play off this with their darting runs forward.”

Osborne continued: “I could tell the players were up for it today, the warm-up was excellent and despite the atmosphere they remained focused on the task in front of them and just played their own game.

“The win puts us right back in it in terms of the league title so we need to build on this now and maintain some consistency if we want to keep fighting for promotion.”