A performance to be proud of...

Herne Bay Ladies vs. Gillingham Ladies
Ryman’s Women’s Cup QF 19th February 2013
Result: Herne Bay Ladies 0 – Gillingham Ladies 5

On paper this was set as a David and Goliath match up. Gillingham Ladies currently play in the FA Women’s Premier League Southern Division, five Divisions above us who play in the Kent County Division! A couple of extremely difficult decisions were made at the start of the game for who would be in the starting eleven. Everyone was buzzing to play and it was clearly noted that the players who weren’t involved were disappointed, however we as a squad need to look at the bigger picture with some massive games coming up to compete in and injury to key players would have left us short for future games.

The pitch, for the first time in a while looked good and very playable. The weather was a little on the cold side but the girls were clearly up for the task in hand! We lost the toss and were asked to play down the slope first half. Gillingham set the tone by a few early chances, but could not find the back of the net for some great defensive work from Enya Lynch, Chantelle Bleau, Rachel Tracy and Amy Warner, and with holding midfielder Lesley Kay being an extra body in defence when Gillingham attacked, the Gillingham ladies started becoming frustrated and shooting from all sorts of distances which didn’t really threaten our goal.

As the half went on, the confidence that has been seen in recent performances started to shine through and we created a couple of half chances for the front pairing of Kiya Mills and Vicky Holness. Our best chance came from our only corner of the game when Lauren Wiltshire delivered a ball across the goal, only to see it come out the other side. It just needed a small touch to find the net. However, it wasn’t to be! Half time was getting closer and closer and I was hoping to get to the half without conceding, but in the 41st minute, Gillingham scored their first goal, a lofted ball from the left, put Breeze Handley in goal in to two minds and was unable to hold the ball, only for the forward to tap the ball into an empty net. The half time whistle came and the Herne Bay ladies were pleased with the first half performance. I was extremely happy in the way we conducted ourselves and asked more of the same in the second half!

The Gillingham ladies came out and were soon on the attack and it didn’t take long before they got their second of the game, a through ball for which Breeze dealt with the first ball parrying it wide only for the Gills striker to score from a tight angle. The Herne Bay ladies have this never say die attitude and continued to try and press forward however we found ourselves defending for long periods of time throughout the second half. Vicky and Kiya up top were living on scraps, both tried extremely hard to create something, but some good defensive work by Gillingham thwarted any sort of attack! Gillingham’s third goal came from a great struck free kick outside the box, going over Breeze’s head.

Some teams would let their heads drop, not ours, we certainly didn’t make it easy for the Gillingham Ladies! The one thing that is a major factor between the two teams is fitness levels, with no disrespect to our ladies, who gave everything throughout, the running off the ball from the Gills players caused all sorts of problems, their fourth goal was a strike across the box only for it to take a wicked deflection and rolled into the bottom corner. Finally the fifth goal was on the stroke of full time, with the players dead on their feet they could not do anything to stop the run of the front player who calmly passed the ball round the goalkeeper! The final whistle went to end the game!

Although he score line was against us, the positives outweighed the negatives! The negatives were just the score line! The positives, it took 41 minutes to concede a goal against a team who play five divisions above us! Only conceding five goals against a team who had some senior players! We defended as a unit! We tried to play as much as we could. We created some good chances in the first half! We never gave up all the way to the ninetieth minute.

The Herne Bay ladies held their heads up high and did not embarrass themselves throughout the match! Some positive comments from Gillingham were received gratefully, and the 120 crowd saw a glimpse of what this Herne Bay ladies team can achieve in the future. I for one am extremely proud to be the Herne Bay ladies manager after the recent performances, especially after tonight’s game! We have come a long way in such a short period of time and we will only get better and stronger in the future!

Team: Breeze Handley, Chantelle Bleau, Rachel Tracy©, Enya Lynch, Amy Warner, Shona Clark, Emma Brown, Lauren Wiltshire, Lesley Kay, Kiya Mills, Vicky Holness.

Subs: Charlie Hayes (30mins Warner) Natalie Lewis (65mins E.Brown) not used Clare Brown, Emily Johnson.