Club News, Feature Interviews, Features
Cooper: It felt really good
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on July 20, 2010
Deanna Cooper was certainly on form as pre-season got going last weekend, as she bagged a hat trick in the first half against Old Actonians.
For the 17-year-old it was a chance to get back to playing a full game of football in seven weeks, and she has certainly missed it.
She said: “It felt really good to get back playing today; it feels like ages since the last game of the season, so it was good to get some time to brush off some cobwebs, and play some competitive football.”
There wasn’t even a minute on the clock when she scored the first of the six Gills goals on Sunday afternoon.
Talking about the opening goal, she added: “It felt really good to score the first goal and so early on, especially considering I don’t normally score many. After the first goal I think it made some of the nerves go away, which meant as a team we were able to play some good football and create more chances. “
From there the midfielder went on to score two more and make it a hat trick in the first pre-season game of the current campaign.
“I don’t think I’ve scored a hat trick since I was at the centre of excellence, and so to get one on the first game of pre-season was great and hopefully sets me up for the season to come, especially as I don’t normally score many.
“As the first game back it wasn’t bad, it gave me a few things I need to improve on before the start of the season, but considering we haven’t played in roughly six weeks, i think personally for me it was a nice place to start and hopefully leading up through the pre-season games I can continue to build on today and then be at my best for the start of the season.”
Deanna can’t wait to get going and test herself in the Southern Premiership against some really good teams.
She said: “I am looking forward to it. It was a quality season last season but playing against better opposition and on better grounds, I am very excited to start this year.
“As last year was my first year of women’s football the combination league was a good place to start I think as it was very different to playing for the centre of excellence both the physically and technically.
“Hopefully stepping up to the Southern Premiership will continue to help me improve both the physical, technical and tactical parts of my game to help me to progress in the game.