Captain's Blog, Features
Captain’s Corner: Everyone is buzzing
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on August 19, 2010
It has been a long time since we caught up with Club Captain Becky Lyon, and a lot has happened since the end of last season.
In the first instalment of the new season we catch up with Bex to get her thoughts on pre-season, the new signings and her thoughts on the coming season.
Pre-season has been hard training wise but obviously we needed to do it, and I think everyone is buzzing going into the first game of the season.
Normally you go into the first game with a bit of dread don’t you but everyone is buzzing at the moment and that is what we have been looking for.
In terms of the games we have played in pre-season, against Watford we should have beaten them by three or four goals in the end, we were lucky not to walk away from the game with a win.
Again I think it just shows our fitness and against Enfield in the last twenty minutes that was when we absolutely battered them. I think the pre-season stuff is showing results now and hopefully we can take that forward into the season.
The game against Millwall was our first massive test and I think we matched them; the only thing was they scored at the end after we had made three or four changes. Our fitness in that game shone again completely. At the end we were still really fit, we were still pushing forward and we were still creating chances and that is down to how hard we have worked in pre-season.
To come away with a draw from the game against Watford is a good result, as we were going into the game as the underdogs. Going into this season everyone is very confident and we are confident we can finish up there in the table.
We are confident because of the work we have put in and how hard we have worked in the pre-season sessions, we are coming away after each session feeling shattered – that is perfect and exactly what we need.
We haven’t done fitness every night, and we are starting now to work more on shape and formations whilst playing football. It has worked really well, we have done all the fitness and now we are working on what to do in game situations.
The fitness work was a big shock and we went into it with our eyes open, we were aware of the level we needed to be at. I think especially for me, Les, Whitney and AJ it was a case of can we get there, we all wanted to be in that first team and it was a case of needing to make that step up.
With the players coming in and the level we are at now we needed to make that step up and we needed to make sure we were ahead of everyone else for Ian to still pick us. We have worked hard if not harder than anyone because they have always had decent pre-seasons and we have never had one really.
I am not going to lie it has absolutely killed us, but I feel confident AJ is feeling confident and Les is feeling confident, we have taken the step up and that is what we needed to do.
I will be massively proud come Sunday, I said at the end of last season that it was a dream come true and again this season.
The girls that have come in have fitted in so well and taken Gills to their hearts so to speak, especially coming from Clubs they have been at for years. To come into the Club and be part of the Club and not just play for the team, it really makes me proud.
It is good to see like the Millwall girls they have been at Millwall for years, they owe Millwall a lot and no disrespect to them they have had to take the step up and move on and they have taken Gills to their hearts.
I am massively proud of all the girls and how they have all come together and created a team out of single individual players, I am really pleased about it.
I think it helps with the girls that are already there and those that were new last season like Nat and Ash. We became such a close team last season the players that have come in it has shown them that even though you haven’t played for the Gills for five years you can still be part of the team.
Becky Lyon goes in for the challenge
It is a credit to the girls and the team spirit that there is, there is great banter in training which is what I think it is all about. It is good to get everyone involved and not to outcast them for being new and from a different Club. It is about bringing everyone together and creating that team spirit.
We are looking for a win on Sunday and I am quietly confident that we are going to get the win, and I have the confidence in every single one of our players. There is not one player in that team that I think is a weak link.
Every single one of them is a strong player and I think in the last few pre-season friendlies we have really come together as a team and started to play good football as a team. We are definitely looking for a win and won’t accept anything less.
We are going to be looking for a win in every single game this season, and we are going to continue to work hard fitness wise in training. We are looking to finish up there in the League, we are not going to get complacent, and we aren’t going to assume that it will fall at our feet. We know we need to work hard for it and that is exactly what we are going to do.