Striker Jess King is one of the new girls in the Chatham Women’s squad this season and is already becoming a fan favourite at the Bauvill as the Medway side look to recover from their relegation from the National League South last season. 

The Chats have made a steady start, and this week have had home league games against Queens Park Rangers and Dulwich Hamlet. 

After the weekend draw with the Southwest Londoners, King spoke to us and first admitted that the team were disappointed only to take a point in a 1-1 draw. “We didn’t really start at the weekend as we wanted to,” she told KSN.  

“It really did put us on the back foot, but in the second half we kept going to find an outlet and eventually got the goal to end on a big positive.” 

“Coming into a side that has just been relegated is not a nice feeling, but we have a good squad who are just trying to think about moving forward. It was not nice for the players who were here last year, but we are now just trying to look forward and take one game as it comes.” 

“Playing in this side is great, the youngsters are full of energy and always running. They are always eager to learn and are always pushing you to be better yourself – hopefully, I will be able to help them, giving them a little bit of wisdom and little ideas about the game and help them to improve their game too.” 

King had played for Chats boss Keith Boanas before at Charlton Athletic Ladies and when asked about the manager said, “I loved working with him the first time and that’s the reason why I wanted to come here to Chatham as well just to work under him again and to learn from him as a player still and also in a coaching capacity as well!” 

“I started playing for Billericay for a little bit, then Charlton for a few seasons and then I have played in Germany, Norway, Switzerland, and I have played with some top international players when playing abroad so I have learned so much from them.”

“It gives me all the different styles of playing, coaching, different cultures and attitudes towards the game as well which has given me a bit of a unique way of seeing things.” 

“I know everyone says it but we are just trying to focus on the next game at a time, getting points on the board and keep moving forward with each game.”