Captain's Blog
Captain’s Blog: Bigging up the d-fence!
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on November 17, 2009
Welcome to the first-ever Captain’s Blog. I’m Bex, I play centre back and as you’ve probably already worked out, I’m the captain! I’ll be blogging throughout the season to give you the inside track on life at Gillingham Ladies FC.
After last week’s FA Women’s Cup match, this weekend was another cup competition as we took on Maidstone Town in the Kent Cup.
I didn’t play the full 90 minutes, as I started off with a bit of a dodgy ankle. Ian decided that I’d come off in the second half and that was probably the right the right decision as we’ve got some big games coming up.
As for the game itself, I thought the girls did well, they got the job done. It was a bit poor if I’m honest in terms of the football we played, but we did what we needed to do and got the result.
Even when we’re playing poorly, we’re still banging the goals in and that just proves what a good team we are.
The disappointing thing for me was we lowered our play to their level and that’s exactly what we didn’t want to do. But still being able to bang seven goals past them is a real positive.
They’re not a bad team, but at the same time they’re not at our level at all and if they’re fighting for promotion they’ve got a long way to go if they can even think of competing in our league.
I hope we’ll be there or thereabouts. We will probably come up against teams like Charlton and Millwall and in the past it’s always been that we’ve got so far, then run into either a Charlton or a Millwall and been knocked out, but the team we have now and the level we’re playing at I think that if we came up against a Charlton or a Millwall we could do the job and beat them.
We’ve got Spurs on Sunday and that’s a big game for defensive partner Kelly (Herrett) as she’s from Spurs, so it’ll be a big game for me and her as we don’t want to let anything past us. Again, they’re a good side and we can’t afford to take them lightly, but we will still aim to go out there and smash them!
Speaking of our defence, I think I should take this first Captain’s Blog to big up my defensive teammates. While the strikers up front get all the headlines, it’s easy for people to forget us lot at the back, and this season we’ve got a really good back four.
Alongside me we’ve got Kel, who technically is so good defensively. You watch her play and you think that she’s going for a ball she might not get to, but she always manages to win it.
She’s so switched on and reads the game so well – she’s got a really good football brain, whereas with me when the ball comes my way I just get rid of it!
At right back we’ve got two great players. On Sunday we had Kate, who’s behind Whit (whitney Judd) for that spot at the moment, but for Ian to keep giving her games through the season is really good for her confidence and development. And of course there’s Whit herself. She’s quality at right back and she doesn’t take any prisoners!
Then there’s Les at left back. She actually started as a centre midfielder, but she’s moved to left back and I don’t think there’s a better left back in the league. Nothing gets past her.
We’ve got two great goalkeepers too. Kate (Duffy) is a quality keeper and HP (Laura Halfpenny) is superb too, and she talks well, which is really important for a keeper. They’re both as good as each other and for Ian to choose between the two is a tough decision. It’s probably one of the toughest choices he has to make as there is only one place available and both girls are such good keepers.
People always see the scorelines and see the 7-0, 8-0 etc, but it’s really important they recognize the ‘nil’ part of it. We may be winning these games comfortably in terms of the scoreline but in those games there are situations where we’re called upon to defend and we’ve done it.
We do have tough games, and the fact that we’re defending so well as a side gives the attacking players the platform to go and do their stuff and bang the goals in. I’m really happy with the back four and I feel comfortable playing in there as part of it.
As well as our game against Maidstone, the ressies were playing Long Lane on the pitch next to us at the same time. It was a bit weird seeing the other girls playing just a few yards across from us, but they did the business too, winning 7-1.
The reserves are doing great. There are probably as many as five or six players in the ressies who could do well in the first team – that’s how strong the reserves are. But obviously it’s difficult as those players may have to wait for an injury before they can get their chance in the first team.
Chabs and Kate have both moved up and taken their chance, so they’re two examples of players who have played in the reserves and impressed enough to earn a spot in the first team squad.
Training’s all about the banter, it’s so much fun and everyone gets involved. Tuesday nights are good – it’s so much fun. It’s great at the moment as both teams are doing well in their respective leagues, but when you go training it’s not like there are two teams at all. We’re all in it together and we’re all mixed in, which is the best way for it to be.
That’s about it for me – not bad for a first blog I reckon! More from me next week. Speak to you all then!