Feature Interviews, Features
Dea and Jonesy on Play-off Victory
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on May 19, 2011
Following the victory over Havant on Sunday afternoon Deanna Cooper and Sarah Jones give us their thoughts on the game.
Sarah Jones said: “It’s a massive achievement for the club, I think we rode our luck a little bit by not securing this status earlier on in the season and having to rely on other teams but we did it the hard way as per usual and at the end we can be proud we still play for a Southern Premiership team which is all that matters, because it’s a clean slate next year.
“Havant had some decent players but over the course of the full ninety I’d say we more than deserved the win. We stepped up our game in the second half and the additional experience and quality we possess showed.
“It’s been a real learning curve for everyone involved at the club I’d say, with it being a completely new experience playing at this level. It’s certainly been a challenge, but it’s one I’ve personally enjoyed. We admit we’ve lacked consistency which has been frustrating but at times we’ve shown real quality which we need to apply week in week out next season to push higher up in the league table.
“Everyone’s thrilled with the result, to say it was a massive game is an understatement and its good experience for everyone to play under such pressure. It was literally all or nothing!
“To be honest I never really get nervous before matches so I was quite chilled out, but you could tell others we’re pretty anxious. I think that’s why we took a little while to settle in the first half and didn’t really get the ball on the floor and keep sustained possession like we’re good at until the second half.”
Deanna Cooper said: “Staying in the Southern Premiership is huge for us as a Club and it means so much to everyone who is involved to still be there, you could see that from the celebrations after Sunday’s game!
“Every time there is a big game with a lot running on it the nerves kick in and this stopped us relaxing a bit but in the end the effort we put in as a team showed that we wanted it so much more, nobody stopped.
“This season was always going to be a learning curve for most players but for the players that haven’t played in the Southern Prem before like me there’s been so much to take in about the way things are done, but as a team this year we have learnt so much and I think next season there will be a huge difference in the team due to already having a season in the League and we will do better because of it.
“Everyone is buzzing after the win I can’t believe we made it that hard for ourselves but to grind out that win shows the team spirit that we have here, after all the work we have put in over the season and the players we have at the Club we definitely deserve to be in this League again next season.”
