Sun 16 Nov: Colne Valley 0-4 Teddington Athletic (Capital Cup 2nd Round)

At just after midnight on the eve of this game, the management and various parents of Teddington Athletic players were at a 1970s party, grooving on down to Get Lucky and throwing semi-comic shapes on the improvised dancefloor. But you make your own luck in football, and the young girls on duty the next day, thrown into a new shape by that same management, were far from fortunate to win yet another game – and proceed to the quarter-final of their second cup in a fortnight.

Teddington's development has been a credit to the players and club, but progress is a process. With great challenges to come, in league and cup, the management wanted to try out a new system making subtly but importantly different positional demands on an already successful team. As usual, this exemplary bunch of players tried it willingly – and executed it encouragingly.

With Anna Kauffmann still hobbled, Ella V continued in goal behind a defence which reverted to the usual back two of Saskia Brewster and Millie Theobald. Ella Dodd and Carla Novakovic anchored the midfield behind Phoebe Head, Sinead Morris and Emily Coulson, while Ale Fairn returned to front-running duties; watching, waiting and learning on the sidelines were Ella Parkinson-Mearns, Millie MacEacharn and Amy Hallett.

The kick-off to this Capital Cup 2nd Round game was unusually late – perhaps a blessing for certain sore heads among the adults – but like their parents the night before, the team wasted no time getting into the swing of things. Within the first two minutes Phoebe had flown down the right and crossed in dangerously, and although Sinead couldn't connect the clearance went straight back to Phoebe who fired wide.

Up the other end, the season's first really muddy-goalmouthed pitch had been regarded warily in the warm-up by Jelly, although she showed no hesitation in flinging herself in with typical determination once battle commenced. That said, she didn't have too much to do herself as early Colne counter-pressure was mopped up by an impressively organised rearguard.

And on 10 minutes, Teddington turned defence to attack with a flowing move which typified their invention and team play. From a throw-in in their right-back area, a loose ball in midfield was won by Ella Dodd, making herself big using her instep to spray a calmly controlled pass out wide to Sinead. Turning inside her marker, the left-wing flyer unselfishly laid it back across the edge of the box to Ale, who herself controlled, turned her marker and laid it on again to Phoebe, popping up in the inside-right channel to lash it high past the goalkeeper.

Ten minutes later, scorer turned provider. Rescuing a Doddsy shot that was going wide, Phoebe crossed for Emily in the six-yard box to knock home a first-time shot for 2-0.

On 24 minutes, the same three players combined brilliantly again, Doddsy winning the ball in midfield and supplying Emily, who although facing the left wing knew that Phoebe was running down the right and excellently reversed the play to her. With Colne desperately scrambling across Phoebe fired the ball toward a terrifying trio (Emily, Ale, Sinead) waiting in the middle, but Em's shot was slightly too weak-ankled and drifted wide of the far post.

By now, this was the pattern: Teddington were controlling the game, if not quite ending it. When Jelly cleared a hopeful through-ball, Doddsy supplied Phoebe to again trouble the left-back but the resultant cross was over-politely passed around by Emily, Ale, Sinead and Doddsy, the queuing quartet strangely hesitant to shoot.

No such dilly-dallying with the clinching third goal, just before half-time. After some midfield pussyfooting Teddington hassled Colne into an error and Doddsy laid it wide right to Emily. Immediately faced with a left-back and covering centre-back, Em simply hit the byline and fizzed a cross back to the edge of the six-yard box, where an acrobatic Ale displayed her fleetness of foot and thought by adjusting in mid-air to volley home left-footed.

Half-time brought about changes: Parky for Saskia at the back, Millie Mac for Phoebe out wide and Amy for Ale up top. The tiny but mighty Amy almost scored twice in the opening two minutes, but it was another diminutive demon who quoshed any hopes of a Colne comeback with the fourth and final goal on 38 minutes.

Desperately repelling Amy and her cohorts, the home side had managed to clear the ball out of the congested area. There mopping up behind the midfield – as she had the whole game, with the tactical intelligence that makes her a joy to work with – was little Carla. With a box full of friends and foes, Carla bypassed the lot by lobbing the ball into the top corner; it was perhaps unfortunate for the goalkeeper, but if Carla got lucky, she had earned it.

The rest of the half was the Sinead show. Stationed on the left wing in the first half and thus right on top of the home fans, the ever-improving winger had incurred their wrath with her combination of gutsy battling and pacy dribbling. With Millie Mac replacing Phoebe at half-time, Sinead was switched to the right flank – meaning she stayed with those same spectators.

Some players might have wanted to hide on the opposite side, but not Sinead; if anything, she improved in the second half, at one point dribbling 60 yards up the touchline, chalk-booted, right in front of the spectators, with opponents floundering in her wake. And when she was substituted later in the half, to rest her up and give Phoebe another few minutes' run-out, she accepted it with a winning smile and a true team-player's commitment.

Being Sinead, she didn't just stay out on the wing either. Having tucked into central midfield when defending, she received the ball and powered out wide with it, dragging defenders with her. Stopping at the line, turning and beating a couple of players, she crossed to the near post for Carla to control and beat her defender. The goalkeeper saved but the rebound came to Doddsy, motoring ominously onto it at the edge of the box; with exemplary calmness and technique, she powerfully sidefooted it... just wide.

Against a team who just a fortnight earlier were only a few minutes from taking points off them in the league, Teddington were easily the better team and in no way flattered by 4-0 – if anything it could and should have been more. This young side continues to improve and can now look forward to quarter-final clashes in two different cups.

Next up in the Capital Cup, in mid-January, they host Denham United of the Hertfordshire League. Should they win that, they may face Charlton Athletic in the semi-final; the victors there might meet Tottenham Hotspur in the final. First, though, attention returns to the league, and a trip to champions and leaders AFC Wimbledon. It's shaping into an unforgettable season, all modern football and 70s dancing, flair and flares.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ella V, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Carla Novakovic (1), Ella Dodd, Phoebe Head (1), Emily Coulson (1), Sinead Morris, Ale Fairn (1). Subs Ella Parkinson-Mearns, Millie MacEacharn, Amy Hallett.

Sun 9 Nov: Teddington Athletic 1-0 Abbey Rangers (Surrey Cup 1st Round)

The best things in life aren't free; the sweetest victories are the ones won hardest. Although Teddington have many times triumphed at a canter, piling up 160 goals in 14 months, their latest success – a first-ever 1-0 scoreline – came through dogged perseverance, tactical awareness and great teamwork... and sparked arguably their most rapturous celebrations.

As the opening opponents in each of Teddington's two seasons, Abbey Rangers have a special place in Athletic folklore – but the story is changing. The outfit who came to Bushy Park in the Surrey Cup this weekend are not the team swept aside 6-2 on the first day of the season; nor are they the Abbey Rangers Diamonds side who succumbed 9-0, 14-0 and 7-2 last campaign.

Having strengthened significantly since that first week of this season, this is now a side more befitting the Abbey Rangers club who have become a respected fixture in the local leagues. Determined, muscular, well-drilled and largely successful, they have beaten four of the other six teams in the league, only coming up short – and not by much – against title favourites Wimbledon and Crystal Palace; they are just four points behind second-placed Teddington with a game in hand.

The Teddington squad rotated as usual, with Sinead Morris under the weather, Ale Fairn on duty at a Remembrance Day event and Anna Kauffmann succumbing to a troubling ankle problem that may effectively keep her out until Christmas. Ella V donned the gloves, and the management team opted to stiffen the defence to a back three of Ella Parkinson-Mearns and Saskia Brewster either side of Millie Theobald.

Ruby Rudkin anchored the midfield with Emily Coulson, behind a front three of Millie MacEacharn on the left, Amy Hallett up top and Phoebe Head on the right – despite the latter two suffering from colds. Sadie Day, Ella Dodd, Carla Novakovic and Sophie Wallman stood by as subs, urging on their comrades.

The home side had been pre-warned that this Abbey side would be better than any previous versions, and it quickly became obvious that they may also be the biggest opponents the side has yet faced. Still, the home side held firm and nimbly threatened: first Millie Mac burst through and fired over, then Emily sent Phoebe clear down the right, and with Emily bursting to get into the middle while Amy tracked toward the near post, Phoebe surprised everyone by looping a cross toward the far corner, from where it was pushed over by the alert goalkeeper.

By 15 minutes Phoebe had to come off for Sadie, and although home side had had the clearer chances, Jelly was becoming the busier goalkeeper as the strong Abbey girls won the midfield battles and tried to turn the Teddington defence – who were coping admirably, playing on the half-turn and diligently covering each other, Millie T gradually readjusting to a middle-centre-back role she hadn't played since the team's earliest days.

The rest of the first half was spent with Teddington fending off Abbey's attempts and occasionally creating a chance up the other end, notably when Emily wriggled clear in the box and warmed the goalkeeper's hands with a left-foot shot.

Half-time brought tactical tweaks and three substitutions. Ruby and Millie Mac had run themselves in the ground – the latter practically begged to come off – and not uncoincidentally produced their best performances of the season, while Amy had also defied her illness to keep chipping away up front. On came Doddsy, Carla (up top) and Phoebe (on the left), with Sophie being saved for later.

Gaining extra zip from Doddsy's physical presence, Phoebe's thrust and Carla's energy, Teddington started to dominate, helped by intelligent use of space. With Doddsy's extra insurance keeping Abbey quieter, Emily pushed on into her favoured trequartista role – and when the visitors pulled back an extra defender, that merely gave Doddsy more room to manoeuvre in midfield.

The first strong example came in the 43rd minute. Having quietly sought half-time advice on how to deal with being overloaded on her left flank, Saskia calmly retained possession and send Phoebe flying up the left to cleverly pull back for the oncoming Doddsy, who fired just wide. A couple of minutes later, the same move brought the same result, but Teddington were getting nearer.

Not that they were without scares at the other end. One one occasion, a weak Jelly free-kick from the right-back area was intercepted by an Abbey midfielder who cleverly tried to lob in from the half-way line, but the goalkeeper got back to clear. And shortly after Doddsy's second shot wide, Rangers broke away and produced a fierce shot pushed wide by Jelly. This was developing into a proper end-to-end cup tie.

Someone had to win, via extra-time and penalties if necessary, and it could have gone either way, with Abbey especially dangerous from set-pieces, but the home side – lately augmented by Sophie, playing in an unfamiliar wide-right role with typical keenness and athleticism – held their nerve and scored with just under 10 minutes left.

It was with a certain delicious irony that Teddington scored from a corner, theretofore Abbey's most threatening method, and with a goal that illustrates how the tiny can be mighty by using their intelligence. Before it even reached the near post the left-wing corner found Carla, all three foot nothing of her, hovering just inside the six-yard box and less than a yard from the bye-line.

As Abbey's much larger defenders began to converge on her, Carla calmly nutmegged the goalkeeper and watched as the ball gently ambled through the morning dew and over the goal-line. It probably didn't even have enough energy to reach the net, but by that point nobody was watching as the team (including pitch-length sprinting goalkeeper Jelly) celebrated exultantly, piling on the diminutive yet dangerous and now delirious goalscorer, marking her first goal since she began regularly playing up front.

It was undoubtedly tough on Abbey but deserved from Teddington, who had earned their lead by out-thinking their opponents. Now they had the best part of a quarter of an hour to maintain or extend the lead, and with Rangers pushing forward for an equaliser, gaps were certainly appearing.

Breaks in play for a dog on the pitch and the 11am Remembrance silence, observed on pitches across the land, irked visiting supporters but the home side's rapid counters looked as likely to cause a goal as Abbey's set-piece physicality, which was increasingly being nullified by the towering Doddsy.

As it was, the scoreline stayed at 1-0 – a first for this Teddington side, who now progress to a Surrey Cup quarter-final at Molesey Juniors. Based just over the Thames, Molesey are third in a closely-fought Division One, having won four and drawn one of seven league games in which they have only conceded six goals; in the cup, they dispatched struggling Abbey Rangers Diamonds 9-1, but they have lost league games to both Caterham Pumas and Kempton Girls.

Should Teddington beat Molesey, they would progress to a semi-final against either Fleet Town (who beat Kempton 3-1) or Crystal Palace Blues (the Division One team, who won 3-2 at Carshalton after extra time). With next weekend's trip to Colne Valley marking the start of their Capital Cup adventure, it will be intriguing to see how far Teddington go, geographically and developmentally.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC (3-2-3): Ella V; Ella Parkinson-Mearns, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster; Ruby Rudkin, Emily Coulson; Phoebe Head, Amy Hallett, Millie MacEacharn. SUBS Sadie Day, Ella Dodd, Carla Novakovic (1) and Sophie Wallman.

Sun 2 Nov: Teddington Athletic 2-1 Colne Valley

The word cliché derives from printers' jargon for a stereotype block: a passage of words used so frequently that the inky-fingered workers would keep it ready-made. It was first used figuratively in 1888, just as the English started the world's first national football league, and ever since then the game has collected clichés.

Take, for instance, "There's no easy games in this league". It's so often trotted out as to become trite, but the thing about clichés is that they are often true – that's why they're universally recognised. And that particular cliché was the latest lesson for Teddington Athletic's debut Premier League season.

Last week's draw – another first – at Croydon was Teddington's seventh top-flight game: they had faced all their Premier League opponents once, with two more encounters per team. Surveying the table at that point, they may have surmised that Colne Valley were the division's weak link: played 7, lost 7, scored 4, conceded 31.

Furthermore, when Colne turned up with only eight girls – none of them a goalkeeper – Teddington, up in third place on 13 points, might have expected a relatively easy morning. They got anything but.

It has to be said that the conditions were awful: constant rain battered the participants, with the poor pitch markings also presenting a problem – many a player dribbled straight off the sidelines. But to roll out another true cliché, the conditions were the same for both sides.

As has become the norm, the starting line-up was designed to give game-time to the squad's less experienced players. Fresh from half-term goalkeeper practice in the back garden, Anna Kauffmann pulled on the gloves (which got so wet they had to be replaced at half-time). With Millie Theobald away, Ella Parkinson-Mearns returned to the defence alongside Saskia Brewster. Sophie Wallman came back into midfield alongside Emily Coulson and Carla Novakovic; Sadie Day and Millie MacEacharn added width either side of Ale Fairn.

After a strong opening 10 minutes from the numerically superior home side, Colne started to show a greater desire for the game. Twice Parky had to head the ball clear, with visibly growing confidence in her own ability to do so; then Colne broke down their inside-right channel and Anna had to come out of her box to execute a block tackle.

On 11 minutes, Colne took the lead. The long throw flew past Parky, bounced high onto the chest of Sas, who couldn't control and clear, and evaded Carla before being tucked home by the striker. For the third successive week, Teddington had conceded the first goal. Another major test, then.

The goal didn't panic the home players, who endeavoured to rectify the situation. Emily started to come deep to orchestrate the comeback, and passed well to either wing; she was also one of several players to get involved in a somewhat frantic defensive action after Anna was penalised for handling outside the barely visible lines of the penalty area. The resultant free-kick was half-cleared six or seven times by various doughty defenders before the home side finally managed to banish the peril.

However, Teddington lacked penetration going forward. Two minutes before half-time, Ale did well to bustle through and fire a shot on target – but it may well have been the home side's first of the day.

Changes were needed, and they came at half-time with a quadruple substitution. Phoebe Head and Sinead Morris replaced Sadie and Millie Mac out wide, while Ella V and Ella Dodd replaced Sophie and Ale to bolster the midfield, with Carla switching up front. Within 10 seconds Teddington almost equalised: Jelly released Phoebe down the right, the cross wasn't quite gathered and the goalkeeper parried Carla's shot wide.

From the corner Phoebe got another shot on target and four or five followed soon thereafter, but Teddington also displayed the first signs of hurrying, shooting from distance instead of waiting for the right opening.

Still the chances kept coming. Given more attacking rein with the two Ellas behind her, Emily skipped past a couple of players and was brought down, to a harmonised "Ooh" from Sinead's parents under the cover of the cricket club awning. Emily wiped herself down to get the free kick on target, and although the goalkeeper spilled it, she recovered to parry Carla's rebound effort wide – and when Doddsy powered Jelly's corner on target, the keeper again did well to hold on.

Once more Teddington were facing a fine goalkeeping display – this time from a girl who hadn't done it before and needed some heavy persuading to don the gloves. When Emily powered through the middle on a 3v3 break and fired toward the top corner, the newby net-minder stretched up to save impressively.

As the game ticked into its final quarter, some were wondering if the equaliser would ever come. On 53 minutes Phoebe fired into the side netting, and a minute later a corner from the left evaded the goalkeeper but flew over Carla's head and Phoebe couldn't quite turn it in at the far post.

The goal finally came with 14 minutes to go, with a slight slice of luck born of attacking in numbers. Winning the ball in left midfield, Emily tried to find Doddsy breaking through the middle but the ball sailed straight past to Phoebe, who rifled it inside the near post. Cue knee-sliding celebration and a quick reminder from a thoroughly undersatisfied manager that the score was still only 1-1.

Teddington could have endeavoured to throw it away – some players seemed guilty of assuming things would happen rather than making it so, being reactive rather than proactive – but Colne feared the worst as the home side continued to press.

Just after the hour Phoebe ran almost the entire length of the right touchline to cross toward Sinead, Emily and Carla; the diminutive striker found Emily, but the shot went straight at the goalkeeper. It was more of a miss than save, but Emily made up for it two minutes later with her second successive vital late goal... even if last week's was controversially chalked off. On this occasion, after intense pressure in the visitors' box the ball fell for her to fire home past the goalkeeper's right hand and seal the points.

The result was not unexpected, but was unlucky for Colne, who played with a desire far outweighing Teddington's. Let's not go overboard – the win put Athletic up to second, only behind leaders Wimbledon on goal difference – but over the last few weeks the Premier League newbies have frequently failed to show how good they really are, and at a post-match inquest the manager asked how much the girls want to kick on to the next level.

There are no league games for the next three weekends: firstly it's Abbey Rangers in the Surrey Cup, then Teddington travel to Colne again in the Capital Cup, after which the whole of women's football has the day off to watch England vs Germany at Wembley.

It's a month that should hopefully inspire this promising team, who have the talent to be whatever they want to be, but will need to remember that nothing worth fighting for comes without effort. When they return to league action on November 30th, Teddington face a rematch with the champions and league leaders AFC Wimbledon. One way or another, that game will reveal much about exactly how good this team can become.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC (2-3-3): Anna Kauffmann; Ella Parkinson-Mearns, Saskia Brewster; Sophie Wallman, Emily Coulson (1), Carla Novakovic; Sadie Day, Ale Fairn, Millie MacEacharn. SUBS Ella Dodd, Ella V, Sinead Morris, Phoebe Head (1).