Gills Ladies bounced back with a point on Sunday afternoon against West Ham Ladies.

They made the short trip to Thurrock in a battle of third and fourth places, and both teams left with a point.

West Ham took the lead after half an hour via a Lauren Williams own goal, before Natalie Crinean equalised just before half time.

Gills started well and had the first two efforts of the game. In the third minute a Danielle Carlton free kick was well saved by the West Ham keeper. From the resulting corner Emma Tune headed over from eight yards.

After that it was all West Ham as the Gills failed to make any impact on the game.

West ham had a lot of possession but could only managed speculative shots from Merritt and Shepard which were comfortably dealt with by Sarah Quantrill.

West ham took a deserved lead on 30 minutes but had a bit of fortune to their goal. A deep back post corner missed everyone but hit the unfortunate Lauren Williams on the leg and went into the back of the net. It was a well deserved goal but one that came with a huge slice of luck.

This seemed to wake the Gills up and they got back on level terms after 40 minutes.

A neat one-two between Vicky Ashton-Jones and Natalie Crinean but the striker through one on one and she comfortably stroked the ball past the keeper into the net.

Half Time 1-1

The second half saw the Gills change the shape in order to try and win the game but it was West Ham who continued to have the majority of the possession without causing the Gills defence many problems.

Half chances fell once again to Shepherd and Merritt but Sarah Quantrill was equal anything they threw at her.

Gills had a long range shot from Natalie Crinean which flew wide and towards the end of the game found themselves with great opportunities to score but the final pass just wasn’t there.

West Ham almost snatched it at the death after a long ball eluded everyone but after the West Ham striker knocked it over the keeper but Deanna Cooper was there to clear it away.

Despite the dominance of West Ham a draw on reflection was a fair result for both sides.

The Ladies head into the Christmas break in 5th place, and pushing for a place in the top three when the season gets underway again in January.

Full Time 1-1

Gills: Quantrill, Williams, East, Cooper, Carlton, Smith, Tune, Hardaker (Phillips 55), Blackie, Ashton-Jones, Crinean (Massey 85)