Club News
Varley: There is no bigger game
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on May 14, 2011
Gillingham Ladies head into their biggest game of the season on Sunday against Havant.
Manager Ian Varley is under no illusions that it is going to be a difficult game against Havant in the one off play-off to stay in the Southern Premiership.
Talking ahead of the game, he said: “It is a bit like a Cup final and there is no getting away from the fact it is a big game.
“We have to be prepared for it, there is no bigger game from the Club certainly since I have been here. We are talking about creating a little bit of history; I know the Club has been around for a long time but in terms of success there hasn’t been that much of it.
“We want to create a bit of history and stay in the Southern Premiership for a second season. If we go down it might give us a lot of trouble, if you look at the teams that went up and down again over the years you have never seen them again.
“Ipswich went down and you haven’t seen them again, Palace went down and Fulham folded completely, once you go out of it then it is very hard to get back in there again. For me it is a massive game that we need to win.”
Unlike the Gills Havant have nothing to lose and Ian is aware that they will come at them from the off.
He added: “They have absolutely nothing to lose and they have already won one play-off game when they beat Norwich last Sunday.
“They have another game now to win it and there is everything to gain for them now and nothing to lose. I think we have everything to lose and the pressure is all on us.
“We will be the overwhelming favourites and there will be more pressure on us to win the game. I am confident the favourites tag isn’t going to beat us.
“We watched them on Sunday and they are the same as other Combination sides. They haven’t won the Combination League and they are the runners-up but anything can happen on Sunday, and I am sure that they are confident that they can win the game.
“We certainly think that we can go and win the game. I think that the first goal is going to be key, but if we get it then it could be a good day all round.”
Gillingham Ladies used to regularly beat sides in the Combination League seven or eight nil and that is unlikely in such a one off game, something Ian agrees with.
He said: “I wouldn’t expect us to win by seven or eight goals, but we could happen.
“If we play the way we have in recent games and find our scoring boots it could happen. In one off games though as big as they are it is very unlikely that it is going to happen.
“We need to turn it on now, we needed one point to stay up and we got ourselves into this mess and we really need to get ourselves out of it. All it takes is 90 minutes on Sunday to win the game and that is what we will be looking to do.”
Whilst Havant didn’t win the Combination League they were well fancied and that is something to be wary of.
He added: “They were well fancied at the start of the season, and they have some good players and they have a few average players from what we saw on Sunday.
“It is the same as any team to be honest; there two central midfielders and the girl who plays behind the two strikers are good players and the rest I would say are average players.
“We are confident we can get the result and we have a good quality squad and everyone is fit and ready to go.”
Preparation is going to be key to winning the game and Ian is confident that his team will be well drilled on Sunday.
He said: “It is really and we have trained well this week. We have had a good little work out and we just need to keep the girls ticking over as you can’t do as much new stuff as maybe you would like.
“We worked on set pieces on Thursday evening and prepared ourselves properly as we do for any other game. Then it is ultimately down to the girls on Sunday afternoon. If we don’t do it we get relegated, if we win it then we stay up.
“I honestly believe we will stay up and if we do we will kick on. I will say this now if we go down I don’t think we could come straight back up because of losing players and needing to readjust to Combination football again.”
The Ladies played a friendly last weekend to get some all important match fitness, something that is key for Ian.
He added: “We emailed a few teams and asked for a bit of a friendly, fair play to Meridian they wanted to test themselves. They came down and they gave us a workout and despite the difference in level we got a work out and there is nothing like match practise instead of training.
“No matter who you play it is always better to get some match practise. We got a few goals for the forwards and before that we hadn’t scored for five games as Charlton scored our one goal. It was important for people to get on the score sheet and take control of the game and that’s what we did.”
