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City Ladies beat the Gills !! (February 17, 2008) Canterbury City Ladies 2 Gillingham Ladies 0
City’s Ladies excelled themselves at Canterbury High School with a performance that left Gillingham outplayed and out of the Kent County Cup. City will now face Millwall in the semi-final.
The result confirmed the progress that Lorna Shilling’s squad had made since they last played Gillingham in a pre-season Friendly and lost 7-2.
Although the Gillingham side began looking dangerously capable and City were obviously nervous, the situation soon changed. By getting to grips in midfield and gradually overcoming their worry that the visitors were from a much more established club, City realised that they had it within themselves to take control. Not only that, they were relieved to see that the Gills strikers were far from accurate in their finishing.
Surprisingly, when Gillingham did get opportunities they were quite casual in the way they tried to tease the City defence out of position, rather than spotting the first chance to shoot and taking it. So City got through their nervy opening fifteen minutes.
Debbie Blackmore again inspired the whole side. New signing Summer Lovegrove, playing on the left side of defence, was not entirely match fit but is clearly a great asset and played a cool, considered role whenever Gillingham attacked in her area of the field.
It was a pass from Lovegrove that allowed Debbie Burgess to collect the ball after eighteen minutes and, with typically skill, lift it over the Gills ‘keeper. It was a moment that also lifted the crowd of over 100 and had Gillingham worried. They were not at all pleased to discover that City were prepared to be tenacious in the tackle and never be intimidated by some rugged responses.
Few teams at any level are likely to be capable of dealing with the pace and ball-holding skills of Burgess, who here was not even at the top of her form. Her skill on the ball set up Avril Spary, who took City further ahead before half-time.
Gillingham were too late in accepting that despite the fact that they play several divisions above City, they were facing a side that in their first season regularly display football far above their current station. And when, in the 73rd minute, they did have an opportunity to haul themselves back into a challenging situation, they missed a penalty.
City spent the last part of the game defending their lead, which was a new experience, and though at times it seemed that they were doing it dangerously deep, they held on to give the re-formed club its first semi-final place in any competition.
City: Hardy; Smith, Collins, Scott, Fusco, Bowen, Blackmore, Spary, Burgess, Hughes, Lovegrove (sub: Tracey). Click here to return to the News page
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