Brentford FC Women’s First Team fell to their first league defeat of the season following some late drama away at Dorking Wanderers Women. The home side were trailing until they produced two quickfire goals in the last five minutes to completely flip the game on its head and leave Brentford devastated.

This result sent Dorking to the top of the table having only dropped two points from a possible 21; producing six wins out of seven in an impressive season thus far. Head Coach Karleigh Osborne believes his side were left to rue missed chances and that being ruthless in front of goal was the only difference between the two teams.

Karleigh said: “I was really pleased with the performance, I thought we were magnificent for 85 minutes of the game. They were limited to very few clear-cut chances; I think they managed three in the whole game and unfortunately in the last five minutes they’ve put two away. As for us I think we had about five good chances that we should have taken but didn’t and ultimately we paid the price.”

The Bees made three changes to the team that drew 0-0 with Sutton United Women last time out. Most notably there was a debut for Stacey Bishop in goal, Jess Stickley replaced Elle Wardlaw on the wing and Laura Miller came in for Jodie Reid in the centre of midfield.

Both sides started the game with attacking intent, but neither could breach the other’s defence. Dorking were mainly restricted to shots from distance throughout the first half, whereas Brentford were working the ball nicely in wide areas but lacked the cutting edge to break the deadlock.

Around an hour into the game The Bees struck first through winger Rebekah Edwards. After a lung-busting run Edwards produced a venomous strike which flew past the opposing goalkeeper and handed Brentford a 1-0 edge.

The home side responded well and were fashioning opportunities from wide positions. Debutant keeper Bishop had to remain alert and cut out most crosses being thrown into her box. On 84 minutes the pressure paid off and Dorking found their equaliser; a mazey run through a sea of bodies in the Brentford box led to a calm finish to peg the West London side back to 1-1.

Just five minutes later and the ball was in the Brentford net again. This time the goal came from a free kick on the right-hand side of the box which The Bees failed to deal with and paid the ultimate price.

On Sunday, 24 October, Brentford return to their home ground to face off against Dulwich Hamlet Reserves who currently sit second in the table.