Sun 16 Feb: Kempton Girls (H) W 5-0

"It's too hard," said the bedraggled defender. "They shouldn't be in our league." Her coach implored her to carry on but it's hard to argue with the Kempton player's plaintive wail halfway through the first half of a game which finally mathematically confirmed Teddington Athletic's under-12 girls as Division Two Champions in their maiden season. 

Dave W's side have been here before, of course: in late November, after 12 straight wins had cemented Teddington into top position, Kempton's inability to raise a side for the forthcoming weekend fixture meant the debutants were uncatchable within the 15-game fixture list. The league's decision to extend the six-squad division's season by a further round-robin of games merely delayed the inevitable. Athletic still haven't lost. In fact, they've only conceded in one game since November. 

That Teddington have only played four games in those two-and-a-half months says as much for the fear factor as the winter weather. Twice in December and twice already in February, teams have pulled out of playing the champions-elect and taken the default 3-0 punishment rather than let their players face an unstoppable team. 

This fixture could have gone the same way. Kempton's affable coach was winningly honest with Teddington's management: they could only rustle up seven players, a couple were borderline unfit and they feared a Bushy Park beating. Only Dave W's offer to play 7v7 saved the fixture, to the delight of both sets of coaches: since that first cancelled game between the sides, each team had only played three games in 11 Sundays. 

Teddington needed the match practice ahead of next weekend's League Cup semi-final clash with Premier Division leaders AFC Wimbledon. Kempton may not be in that league but they're no slouches: second in the league, with a strong team sprinkled with good players, the division's toughest opposition alongside Caterham, with whom Kempton are tied on points – both teams have won every league game except those against Teddington. (They now play each other four times in five weeks to contest the runners-up position, which may or may not mean promotion.) 

Although those parents who could do so selflessly delayed half-term holidays until after the game, roaring off at the final whistle, Teddington were short of several players – Millie Theobalds and Saskia Brewster at the back, midfielder Sophie Wallman and wide forward Amy Hallett – while striker Ale Fairn wasn't rushed back from her Achilles injury, with Wimbledon in mind.

The nine-girl squad became eight when Ella Parkinson-Mearns pulled a groin in the warm-up, and eight became seven when Kempton commendably turned up despite being down to six, Sadie Day cheerfully bolstering the opposition numbers in a shirt two sizes too big for her.

That Dave W was able to put out a winning side says much to the strength of his squad, and its members' willingness to develop. In defence alongside an initially reluctant but typically effective Ella V was Millie MacEacharn, playing in a two-girl back line for the first time and eagerly learning as she went. Ahead of them, Emily Coulson and Ruby Rudkin added silk and steel, while the potency of wide attackers Sinead Morris and Phoebe Head meant Athletic were still dangerous without a central striker, as Kempton struggled to pick up runners from deep. 

Such was the genesis of the opening goal, after 12 minutes in which Phoebe had scorched the right wing with intelligent runs and testing shots, one hitting the far post. Always a danger to the opposition, Phoebe has got increasingly good at looking up for team-mates and as the Kempton defenders raced toward her, she noticed the central runs of Emily and Ruby and slipped a pass inside; Emily got there first to calmly slot home.

Within three minutes it was 2-0. Again the trouble came from the right wing, but from a new pest: Phoebe's best mate Ella V, marauding forward for a corner (and leaving Millie Mac minding the shop), ran down the flank and  crossed in for Ruby to sweep in a first-time shot which the goalkeeper could only parry in.    

Two minutes later it was 3-0 and effectively all over with a finish belonging to a higher division. With the ball pinging around the Kempton area, Phoebe had the vision, skill and confidence to loft a gentle left-peg side-foot into the far top corner of the goal. 

The second half didn't turn out as badly as it might have for Kempton, who must have feared the worst when three became four right at the start of the second period with another confident goal. This time Emily was first to a Kempton goal-kick, controlling it past a defender with her left foot before firing home with her right for her 22nd of the season. Not bad for a midfielder who, for reasons bewildering, is played at full-back by her school team.

Thereafter Teddington withdrew slightly, leaving Kempton to clear their lines unharassed, the better to practice winning the ball back in midfield: no point scoring a dozen times from opponents' goal-kicks if next week's Premier-topping opposition will reach the halfway line every time. 

Not that Kempton unduly worried Teddington goalkeeper Charlotte Ward, whose most troubling decision was heads or tails at the captain's toss-up. In a microcosm of their season, despite being well clear, Athletic didn't cease trying. Particularly prevalent in the second half was left-sided attacker Sinead, who can beat any opponent in the division but always seems short on confidence if she hasn't scored herself. Terrorising Kempton's bedraggled right-back, she waged a one-woman war but was unable to get the goal she deserved. Not that she needs worry: she too has scored 22, and terrified every opponent she has come across. 

The only girl to have scored more than Sinead or Emily is Phoebe, and she completed the scoring in the last minute. Fittingly, she was set up by Millie Mac, alertly collecting a loose ball, looking up to assess her options and finding a team-mate running cleverly into space. 

Such is the way with this squad. These are girls who trained in howling wind and horizontal rain on Friday. These are girls who have beaten every single team they've faced. These are girls who are deservingly champions of their division, and as they prepare to play the finest team they can possibly face in this league, they have little to prove but everything to gain. 

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC (2-4-0) Charlotte Ward; Ella V, Millie MacEacharn; Phoebe Head (2), Ruby Rudkin (1), Emily Coulson (2), Sinead Morris. Sub (inj) Ella Parkinson-Mearns; temporary loanee Sadie Day. KO 10am, Teddington Cricket Club, bright and dry

Friday night training: Breezy