Gillingham 1-2 Queens Park Rangers - I'd give the punters their money back, says James Marrs

GILLINGHAM  1-2  QUEENS PARK RANGERS
The FA Women’s Premier League Southern Division
Sunday 10^th March 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Maidstone Road

GILLINGHAM manager James Marrs admitted his side have been dragged into the relegation dog-fight after going down to an embarrassing home defeat to basement side Queens Park Rangers.

Seven days after beating league leaders Millwall Lionesses 2-0 at Eden Park Avenue, Gillingham put in their worst performance of the season as Queens Park Rangers deservedly claimed their second league win of the season.

Gillingham remain in sixth-place in a ten club division in The FA Women’s Premier League Southern Division table with 15 points from 14 games and Marrs admitted his side must win one or two of their last four league games to maintain their league status.

The Kent side are six points clear of the relegation zone, but Tottenham Hotspur (9 points) and Queens Park Rangers (8) have a couple of games in hand.

Queens Park Rangers opened the scoring nine minutes before half-time when Gillingham right-back Amy Taylor powered a header into the roof of her own net following a corner.

And the Londoners doubled their lead early in the second half when Kim Meadows was given acres of space to take a touch before slotting home.

Gillingham rallied and scored a consolation thirteen minutes later when right-winger Kallie Balfour scored her sixth goal of the season.

Marrs admitted his players just thought they could turn up and win and believes chairman Martin Andrews should give the sparse crowd their money back.

He said: “Poor, very, very poor!  I think they turned up thinking they’d win the game without putting any hard work in.  Poor! Dire performance. Embarrasing!

”If I was Martin I’d give the punters back their money who paid to watch that today, because that’s not good enough.”

Marrs could not explain how his side could beat the league leaders and lose to the basement side in the space of seven days.

”Last week the players’ attitudes were different. I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it,” he said. 

“I think they turned up and they expected to turn this team over today.  We’ve put in a minimal shift and it’s not good enough, it really ain’t!”

Queens Park Rangers created the opening chance with only 187 seconds on the clock.

Eartha Pond swung in a corner from the right, which was headed away by Jay Blackie and the impressive Sophie Fogarty hooked her volley wide of the post.

Visiting keeper Sophie Cheale made a comfortable save to deny Taylor scoring with a speculative left-footed angled drive from 25-yards.

Gillingham keeper Charlotte Stephens made the first of many fine saves in the fifteenth minute.

Fogarty took the ball forward before unleashing a left-footed drive from 35-yards, which was destined to loop into the right-corner, but Stephens dived to her left to fingertip the ball around the post.

Marrs said: “She played well today. She’s a bit unlucky to concede the two goals because she’s been fairly solid. 

”Not being funny, I think she’s the only person who can come out with any credit. The rest of the ten players that were on the pitch weren’t on the pitch in my eyes. I don’t know what they were doing first half.  I don’t know what was going on, I really don’t

”I said to them about the work-rate and what was the most disappointing thing is the fact that the work-rate has been so good and yet where was it today?”

That should have been the wake-up call that Gillingham needed, but the home side were flat during the first half.

Queens Park Rangers certainly did their homework on Gillingham and pressed high up the pitch as the home side tried to pass from the back and Blackie lost the ball to Fogarty whose first time left-footed drive curled just past the foot of the far post from 25-yards.

Gillingham were forced to shoot from distance halfway through the first half when Emma Tune played the ball inside to fellow midfielder Danielle Carlton, whose left-footed speculative drive from 40-yards sailed harmlessly wide.

Stephens kept Gillingham in the game on the half-hour mark when she rose her arms above her head to beat away a fierce angled right-footed drive from 30-yards from Kasha Petit.

Gillingham cut open the Queens Park Rangers defence when Carlton played a precise diagonal pass to feed Balfour, who cut inside but her 30-yard shot was easily gobbled up by Cheadle.

Gillingham were counting their blessings when Katie O’Leary’s right-footed drive beat Stephens and clipped the outside of the right-hand post after more sloppy defending from the hosts.

But Queens Park Rangers deservedly opened the scoring, following their fifth corner of the game.

Pond swung in an excellent corner with her right-foot from the right and a crowd of players rose as they tried to head the ball towards goal on the edge of the six-yard box – but Taylor powered her header into the roof of her own net.

Marrs said: ”It’s just looked like a melee in the box. The ball was too easy to go across our six-yard box. The three players’ set up on the six-yard box to deal with that and the ball went in to the back of the net so if players don’t deal with their areas like what their supposed to do then you’re going to concede goals – so fully deserved.”

Balfour latched onto Blackie’s ball over the top but curled her shot over the bar from eight-yards after the Gillingham winger cut in from the left again.

Blackie’s hooked pass set up a chance for Carlton, whose left-footed angled drive from 25-yards whistled past the far post.

Marrs was clearly unhappy with his side’s poor performance during the first half and said: “What didn’t I say to them at half-time!  I didn’t have to say too much to be fair. I just told them exactly how it was! The work-rate was horrendous. They just expected to turn up to win the game without putting any shift in and they didn’t put a shift in.

”I said a few expletives and they came out second half and the second half performance was a lot better.”

Gillingham created the first chance of the second half when Tune’s right-footed shot from 20-yards deflected of Sarah Staples to allow Chedle to gather beside the post.

But Gillingham were facing a mountain to climb when poor defending inside the six-yard box gifted Queens Park Rangers their second goal in the 52^nd minute.

O’Leary released Kirsten Thomson down the right and she played the ball across the penalty area to the unmarked Meadows, who took a touch before slotting her right-footed placement across an exposed Stephens.

”There you go, taking a touch inside our box to slot home, says it all really,” bemoaned the Gillingham manager.

”They deserved their win. They worked hard, the other team.  They were organised. They knew what they wanted to do and came here and done it so full credit to them really.”

Stunned Gillingham upped their urgency levels after that goal and Carlton swung in a corner towards the far post where Blackie planted her header over.

And they pulled a goal back in the 63^rd minute, thanks to Balfour’s pace.

Rachel Ahern clipped the ball out of defence to release the winger, who easily beat the left-back before she cut into the penalty area and kept her composure as the goalkeeper came off her line to slam her right-footed shot into the bottom near corner from eight-yards.

”She should be doing that more often,” said Marrs.

”The amount of times, the amount of pace she’s got, she doesn’t realise that when she pushes the ball past the full-back and she does actually cut in that can happen, but it’s just her believing she can do it really.”

Jade Keogh should have copied her team-mate when she was presented with a chance inside the final 20 minutes but she guided her shot straight at Cheadle.

Gillingham pressed for an equaliser that their performance didn’t deserve.

And they came close to grabbing a point when Tune’s right-footed angled shot from 20-yards sailed over Cheadle’s head and agonisingly bounced onto the crossbar.

Gillingham substitute Nicole Pepper whipped in an outswinging corner from the right for Blackie to guide her shot towards goal from 12-yards, which was cleared of the line.

Cheadle made her best save of the game inside the final six minutes when she stuck out her right arm to push Blackie’s left-footed looping effort from 35-yards over her crossbar.

Marrs added: “We could’ve nicked an equaliser. We had some chances to nick an equaliser but we didn’t deserve it. We deserved what we got today!

”That’s the worst performance that we’ve put in this year. I’ve not seen a performance like that before from the girls’, even when we do get beat we don’t put in a performance like that!

”We still moved the ball around nicely in stages and played some good football but when the work-rate’s not there when you lose the ball then it’s no good passing the ball around.”

When asked whether he missed influential Deanne Cooper (dislocated left shoulder) and Vicky Ashton-Jones, Marrs replied: “Who knows? We were missing two today. Did we miss the both of them? I’d like to think not. I would really hope to think not because last week Deanna came on after 70 minutes and our performance was fantastic up until that point last week, so I’d like to think we really have got that strength in depth that we can miss big players and still perform and win the games but obviously not today.”

Gillingham’s next league game is at home to second-placed Reading next Sunday, before they face Tottenham Hotspur (24 March) and Colchester United (31 March) – all at home, before ending their league campaign with a trip to Lewes on 14 April.

When asked whether this defeat drags Gillingham into the relegation dog-fight, Marrs admitted: “It certainly does!  They’re on eight points now. We’re still on fifteen so it does drag us into the relegation dog-fight unfortunately.

”But I keep telling them, until it’s smashing them in the face they (should) realise hold on a minute, we’re actually in a relegation battle, which is what they are.”

When asked how many points they need to retain their league status, Marrs said: “Eighteen I think we need. One more win, I think we’ll be safe. I’d like to think we’d be safe anyway, but 21 we’re definitely safe so we’ve got four games to go so two wins and we’re definitely safe.”

But before those crucial league games, Gillingham face Enfield Town in the Ryman Women’s Cup Semi-Final on Wednesday night, here at Chatham Town’s Maidstone Road.

Marrs said: ”It’s a nice one to bounce back. I’ll certainly be looking for a reaction from the players.  We’ll pick ourselves up and we’ll go again in the semi-final. It’s a good fixture for us to pick ourselves up and go again. We’ll be hoping for the win, Wednesday night.

”We can get it out of the system straight away.”

Gillingham were on the end of a 7-0 thrashing in their away game at Reading back in September – and Marrs cannot afford a repeat result in seven days’ time.

”There’s loads of circumstances behind that defeat, players’ got stuck in a traffic jam. We got there late. Preparations were late and we had a makeshift goalkeeper in – but they battered us.

”But we will make sure they will get a better game this time. Whether we pick up three points or not remains to be seen.”

Gillingham aim to retain the Kent Women’s Cup when they face Charlton Athletic in a repeat of last season’s Final, on 10 April at Sevenoaks Town’s Greatness Park.
 
Gillingham: Charlotte Stephens, Amy Taylor (Sophie Brown 46), Emma Wood (Nicole Pepper 55), Jay Blackie, Rachel Ahern, Lauren Williams, Jade Keogh, Emma Tune, Natalie Crinean, Danielle Carlton, Kallie Balfour.
Subs: Amy Russ, Ruth Jackson

Goal: Kallie Balfour 63

Queens Park Rangers: Sophie Cheadle, Lorna Gover, Eartha Pond, Sarah Staples (Kirsten Walker 80), Kasha Petit, Jade Dempster, Kirsten Thomson, Elly Maggs, Katie O’Leary (Jeta Bytyqi 68), Sophie Fogarty, Kim Meadows.
Sub: Kathrin Gumbler

Goals: Amy Taylor 36 (own goal), Kim Meadows 52

Attendance: 31
Referee:  Mr Peter Cruise (Erith)
Assistants: Mr Noel Bevan (Upchurch) & Mr Richard Cowper (Walderslade)