Club News, Ian Varley
Varley relishes the floodlit derby match.
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on March 24, 2010
There is nothing better than a local derby except for perhaps a local derby played midweek under the floodlights.
Quite rightly Ian Varley is really looking forward to facing local rivals Ebbsfleet Ladies under the floodlights on Thursday evening.
Talking about the experience of playing under the lights to CHRIS DICKETTS, he said: “As a player I loved playing under floodlights and managing the team Thursday will be no different.
“I can’t quite put my finger on what it is but the atmosphere seems to be better and players love playing in midweek games.”
The manager is not only expecting his own team to be up for the occasion but also opponents Ebbsfleet who the Gills beat 5-0 earlier in the season at Stonebridge Road.
He added: “It’s a derby so they’ll be fired up and wanting to put a dent in our title hopes but we’ll approach it as we always do and hopefully get the three points.
“Ebbsfleet are a little bit like Dartford who we played on Sunday, they are a step up in terms of quality but they operate in a similar way. They set up to get about you and break up the play and it is one of the biggest games of their season.
“If we start to get caught up in all the hype then the players may lose focus and concentration which is something we can’t afford to happen at this stage of the season.”
Looking ahead to the game also gave Ian the chance to reflect on the previous meeting earlier in the season and just how the Fleet might play against them again.
He said: “To be fair to them they started really positively against us in the first game and put us under pressure for all of five minutes. Once we relaxed though and started to play the game, rather than the occasion we had a comfortably victory.
“I remember we missed a lot of chances that day and it could have been a lot more but we were happy with the win. We have more quality than most teams so as long as we play like we can then we are more than capable of comfortably taking the three points again.
“What I will say is that I hope the referee has a strong game as certain
Players concern for Ash after she received a nasty tackle away to Ebbsfleet
Ebbsfleet players like to put in the odd reckless challenge which we will have to be wary of. I am sure the referee will spot this early on.”
Ian did reveal that his side now have the expectation of maintaining their good run and that they cannot afford one slip up.
He added: “We have got to play the likes of Ebbsfleet, Northampton and Tottenham these are the teams that we have to take points from.
“So that when we come to play Norwich, we are in a healthy position and might not actually need to beat them.
“We cannot afford to put ourselves under any pressure as we have Norwich twice in our last three games of the season. We would ideally like to have the League sewn up by then.”
