Following his side’s hard fought draw with Coventry United Ladies on the opening day of the 2018-19 FA Women’s Premier League Southern season. Gills’ Ladies manager Jack Wheeler gave his verdict on the game.
Wheeler on… A hard fought performance: “I’m very pleased and proud of the girls performance today. We asked them to apply themselves and make themselves competitive. We know Coventry are a good side having finished in the top four of the league, but we want to make Chatham Town a bit of a fortress this season and when teams come to us. We know its only one game but Coventry came and knew they were in a game today, Coventry must be looking at the teams left in our league and looking at finishing top three at least, we look and say that we matched them today.”
Wheeler on… Opening day point: “We went in the changing room at full time and the girls they were very happy, for a 0-0. Coventry last year came here and beat us 5-0, that was probably one of my darkest days of last season. To start on the front foot this season and get a 0-0 against a very good team is a very positive result. It shows how far we have come, there’s a lot of new faces in there, they all fought for each other and wore the shirt with pride and as a manger that is all you can ask. Make sure you go and give your all and come back into the changing room say ‘I’ve put in a shift today’. I can say that there isn’t one person who didn’t do that today, all eleven players were very very good today.”
Wheeler on… Opposition in National League Southern: “This season you look at the league table and think ‘It’s a really competitive league’ most teams will be able to take points off of each other, just like us today taking points off of Coventry. Last season we didn’t manage any points against Coventry and this season we have. So we are already a point up. This season this is going to be a fun league to be a part of, because you haven’t got as many of those ‘predictable’ results as you did last year so there will be upsets. It’ll be exciting for the managers, you’ll always be checking the scores and looking in on how others do.”
Wheeler on… The 50/50 games: “It’ll be more down to who wants it more, and if I can be honest, my team wanted it more than Coventry today. That’s the reason we got something out of the game. Not down to tactics or technical ability, it comes down to heart and desire. All those bits go with a good team performance and that’s what we had today, its testament to the competitiveness of the league that teams will take points off of each other.”
Wheeler on… Summer transfers: “Looking at it from a recruitment point of view, there has been lots of chopping and changing, new faces coming in a some that have gone out, those have gone on to higher divisions and progress to better teams you can’t knock them. If the new recruits play like they did today each game, we are on for a positive season. Our team performance is vital, you never get anything with individuals, its all about how the team performs, you won’t always have eleven players on top form, some weeks only seven. Today we had eleven! And its going to be how many times we can recreate that this season? If we do, teams will find it tough against us.”
Wheeler on… More players: “We are still looking at one or two more signings, which we hope to have done by the end of next week. We’ve got two or three that are away today that are coming back in too. We have four or five players that weren’t even in the squad today. Things are looking positive for Gills Ladies, we just need to bottle what we have achieved today and we don’t let it fizzle out and use it to push forwards in future.”
Wheeler on… Next Match: “We will approach it in exactly the same way as we have done this week, take one game at a time, looking at Portsmouth they have recruited quite well out of Brighton, so they are looking quite strong. They got a win today, we expect Portsmouth to be a well organised side and another decent outfit. Its what makes this league good, each week your going to get tested. It’s what drives me on, it’s what drives the girls on.”
Picture credit to http://www.kentproimages.co.uk