On a bizarre afternoon at the Bauvill Stadium, Gillingham Women recorded back-to-back “home” wins for the first time this season with victory over Cheltenham Town Ladies.

Ellie Jeffkins and Georgia Griffin sealed the win despite Charlie Taylor’s late controversial penalty for the visitors, but whilst the football warmed the cockles of the majority of the near 200 crowd, many were left shaking their heads over the “performance” of referee Danji, of which more in a moment – but boss Dan Logue was delighted with the points especially as injury robbed the side of skipper Vicky Ashton-Jones before the game and striker Breon Grant during it in one of the more bizarre moments in the game.

The Gills had struggled to score in their previous games in their new home but were in front before many of the crowd had taken their seats. Megan Maslak hammered a ball into the box which totally deceived Town keeper Aimee Watson and ended up in the net.

Cheltenham thought they’d levelled before the half hour as Izzy Cook “beat” the Gills defence to the ball and punched it past Cara Davies and into the net. It was such an obvious infringement that everyone in the ground saw it – apart from incredibly initially at least referee and his assistant.

The man with the whistle was looking from behind the play and appeared to award the goal which sparked massive protests from home players, officials and supporters alike as the assistant just looked on.

Bizarrely after what seemed like an age, the two officials eventually consulted, a free kick was awarded for the handball and Cook booked…

Sadly things from the officials perspective weren’t to improve, so thank goodness there was some decent football to talk about. Anna Davies fired over from the angle for the visitors, whilst the impressive Kiera Flannery (who was at the heart of most good things for the home side) combined with Mel Espinosa for Grant to thump a drive that cannoned back off the top of the left post.

Grant looked set to make it 2-0 after being brilliantly played through, but was crudely taken out by a defender on the edge of the box. Incredibly after lengthy treatment for the Gills striker which resulted in her limping out of the game, as the game waited for a free-kick for the home side and a possible red card, referee Danji restarted play with a Cheltenham free kick implying that it was Grant who committed the foul!

The incident seemed to rock the concentration of the home side and the visitors missed two great chances to level before the break – Laura Holden looping a free header onto the roof of the net, and after Davies gave the ball away after a goal kick, Holden rolled the ball goalwards but there was no power in the shot that allowed Grace Coombs to calmly walk the ball off the goal-line.

The home side flew out of the blocks after the break and Flannery and Maslak both went close – Flannery snatched a shot wide whilst Maslak was denied by Watson.

A second goal duly arrived though and it was a cracker – Flannery did brilliantly down the right and was able to roll the ball into the path of substitute Griffin (who had taken Grant’s place) and her first time shot flew into the top corner via the underside of the bar before bouncing down clearly over the line.

Moments later the Gills Women thought they’d sewn the points up as Amy Haynes’ brilliant run into the box was crudely ended but Kara Fordjour – who led the line more and more impressively after Grant’s departure thumped the ball into the bottom corner.

Again bizarrely, the officials interrupted the celebrations by ruling Fordjour offside but completely ignoring the foul on Haynes!

The maligned official then did award a spot kick – but for Cheltenham. To say that Emma Congrove went down under challenge in stages would be polite, but the award stood and Emily Owen despatched the spot kick with some aplomb.

Aggrieved as the visitors pressed for an equaliser, the home side were happy to hit them on the break and with Flannery controlling the midfield the lead could easily have been extended as Maslak shot just too high, Flannery herself had a shot magnificently clawed away by Watson and Fordjour was denied by Watson’s feet after a horrendous defensive slip.

Flannery admitted after the game that the final whistle was a relief as she said, “It’s all we wanted to do – get the three points, so everyone’s happy! Everyone stuck together despite some dodgy decisions, but everyone’s come out and we’ve got the win in the end and that’s all that matters.”

“Today shows that we can get goals and that everyone can click as a team – we’ve just got to carry it through to the end of the season.”

GILLINGHAM WOMEN – Davies, Coombs, Jeffkins, Fordjour, Jestin (Harrison), Maslak (Keegan), Flannery, Grant (Griffin), Espinosa (Cresswell), Leitch, Amy Haynes.

CHELTENHAM TOWN LADIES – Watson, Finch (Collis), Fallon, Congrove (Jessy Taylor), Charlie Taylor, Holden, Butcher (Collis), Cook, Owen, Billie Haynes, Davies (Watham).

REFEREE – Mr Danji

Picture supplied by Gillingham Women.