Gillingham 6-1 MK Dons - It was one way traffic, says Gillingham boss James Marrs

GILLINGHAM 6-1  MK DONS
The FA Women’s Cup Second Round
Sunday 6^th January 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Maidstone Road

GILLINGHAM manager James Marrs says his side received their just rewards for putting in hard work on the training ground after they produced a near perfect performance to send MK Dons crashing out of The FA Women’s Cup.
 

Gillingham went into this Second Round tie sitting in sixth-place in the FA Women’s Premier League Southern Division, with three wins and three draws from eleven league games.

MK Dons play in the division below, the South East Women’s Combination, and arrived in Chatham sitting in eighth-place in the table, after picking up four wins and three draws from the same number of league outings.

But despite the two sides separated by only 12 places in the pyramid, Gillingham ran out comfortable winners to book their place in the Third Round for the fourth successive season.

However, if it wasn’t for the heroics of visiting keeper Trip Witney then the Kent side would have scored at least double such was their dominance.

Jade Keogh ensured the Gills’ avoided slipping up on a potential banana skin by curling a long-range drive inside the opening seven minutes to settle their nerves and she was denied a second when her shot bounced off the post and went in off the goalkeeper for an own-goal.

MK Dons stunned their hosts when they pulled a goal back within three minutes into the second half, through substitute Emily Mann, but their unlikely comeback was put on the back burner as Gillingham raised their game and scored four second half goals.

Danielle Carlton, who dominated the middle of the park, scored a seven minute brace, before impressive central defender Deanna Cooper sent a diving header into the net, before substitute Bryony Smith thumped her penalty into the top left hand corner.

Marrs, 25, who was Ian Varley’s coach last season, was naturally delighted with his debut FA Cup victory as a manager.

He said: “Really good day. It’s my first FA Cup (tie) as manager. I’m into the third round, so I can’t complain.

“We’ve scored six goals. We’ve had a nice crowd here today so that’s not bad for us considering it’s cold and stuff.  It’s always good to get a win so roll on West Ham next week and we can keep the winning habit going.”

Marrs added: “They only really had the first ten minutes of the second half.  We didn’t come out. They had a little wind in their sails, managed to nick a goal. It always give you a little bit of confidence and then we managed to score straight after really to kill the game off completely and then it was all one way traffic really from then on in I think.”

Gillingham’s first chance arrived when Natalie Crinean, who was playing her first game after being out for four months through injury, headed the ball into Carlton’s path and she was given time and space to crack a right-footed half-volley towards goal from 30-yards, which forced Witney to stick out her right arm to push the ball away high to her right.

But MK Dons’ only player who came out of this thrashing with any credit, was beaten when Keogh cracked home a right-footed angled drive from 30-yards, which screamed across and over the diving keeper and dropped into the top far corner off the underside of the crossbar.

“We’ve been working hard over the Christmas period,” explained Marrs.

“We’ve been doing extra sessions and stuff and the main thing that I’ve been getting out of the girls’ is their work-rate, winning the ball back even if you’re winning five or six one.  The determination to still get behind the ball and don’t become complacent and still work as a team and we’re been putting a lot of work in on the training ground so the girls’ deserved that win today definitely.”

It was just not the start that MK Dons wanted against higher-league opposition.

“We’ve been struggling with the finishing side of it,” admitted Marrs.  “We’ve been doing that for most of the games that we’ve played this season.  We tend to have the upper hand and just not put the ball in the back of the net.

“I said to the girls’ before the game started that if we get a chance, have a bit of composure, focus on your technique rather than panicking and she’s whacked in a thirty-yard screamer!”

Marrs hailed his side’s perfect start, by saying, “It relaxes you.  The longer the game goes on 0-0 the more confidence the other team gets from that and the more frustration comes from the better side.

“I’ve said to the girls’ we needed a goal in the first ten minutes to settle us down and then we can get the ball down and play and be a lot more comfortable from there on.”

Gillingham enjoyed plenty of possession down the right where right-back Lauren Williams and Keogh combined on numerous occasions. 

Keogh cut inside left-back Charlotte Wright and clipped in a cross, which was headed out by Carissa Kosovorswki and the impressive Carlton cracked a left-footed volley, which sailed over from 25-yards.

Marrs and the rest of the crowd marvelled in Witney’s excellent double save in the seventeenth minute.

Carlton, with her back to goal, cut the ball back to central midfielder Jay Blackie, who was given time and space to drill a right-footed shot from 30-yards, which forced Witney into making a fine diving save to her left and full marks to the keeper, who bounced back up and blocked the follow-up from striker Rachel Ahern, who was ready to pounce and give Gillingham the cushion that their play deserved.

The Gillingham manager said: “Fantastic save!  I don’t know how she managed to get up and block the second one really. It was a good save from the first shot and she’s managed to respond fairly sharply and managed to get the rebound as well.

“She had a good game. She was probably their best player.”

Halfway through the first half Ahern sent a right-footed hooked volley on the turn from 22-yards, which bounced into Witney’s gloves at the near post, before Gillingham shot from distance but Ahern and Carlton were off target.

Witney thwarted Gillingham again when she made another brilliant save when Carlton’s corner from the right was met by a bullet header at the far post by Nicole Pepper, which saw the visiting keeper stick out her right hand to push over the bar.

But Witney was to be accredited with Gillingham’s second goal in the 33^rd minute.

Gillingham built down the left and Ahern sent a deep cross sailing towards the far post, which was met by a bullet header from an unmarked Keogh.  The ball sailed across the keeper as she dived low to her right, but the ball bounced off the far post and crept in over the line off her body.

When told the strike will go down as an own-goal, Marrs replied, “Don’t tell her that! She’ll be fuming!  I shouted out to her that was an OG!

“But I don’t care if it’s an OG or whether she scored or not! As long as it’s hit the net!

“Fantastic header. We’ve worked on all of these things about the ball’s on the far side of the pitch making sure the far wingers aren’t left out when they’re outside of the box and they should be attacking the far post area and they’ve listened and they’ve got their rewards for it.”

MK Dons finally created their first chance in the fourth minute of injury time.  Elizabeth Stanton whipped in a cross from the right which swung out to Bryony Levitt, who stabbed the ball back to the unmarked Heather McDonnel, whose left-footed drive from 30-yards brought a comfortable save from Gillingham keeper Ruth Jackson.

Marrs said he was pleased that hard work on the training ground came to fruition on match day.

He said: “We’ve played like this in 85% of the games that we’ve played this season and we’ve gone in 0-0 or we’ve gone in 1-0 in front and we’ve ended up drawing the game or we’ve ended up getting beat.

“When you dominate the game for long periods of time and you end up losing because you can’t put the ball in the back of the net it’s very frustrating, so I’ve said to the girls’ to make sure we get this game finished, see the game off.

“If you get a little bit of time in front of goal, just a little bit of composure and we’ve managed doing that in the end with the help of some of their defenders as well.”

MK Dons’ manager John Dyer made a change at the interval and brought on Mann, and she gave her team-mates a lifeline just 203 seconds into the second half.

McDonnell split the Gillingham back four with a precise through ball along the muddy playing surface and Mann placed her right-footed shot underneath the diving Jackson, her shot rolling into the back of the net.

Marrs said of his keeper, “Yes, she will probably be a little bit disappointed with herself that she didn’t save that, but when you have nothing to do for 45 minutes you tend to get a little bit cold and sometimes you tend to switch off.

“We were going on at her about not switching off. Sometimes you can’t help it. Sometimes it’s the nature how it goes.  She’ll be disappointed, but she’ll bounce back from that I’m sure.”

This goal lifted MK Dons’ spirits and they went close to grabbing an undeserved leveller, but Wright cracked a left-footed shot from 30-yards, which sailed over the top of the near post.

But Gillingham went on to strangle their lower league opponents, snuffing out their chances of causing an upset.

Gillingham regained their two-goal lead in the 54^th minute when Cooper played a Steven Gerrard type raking pass with her left-foot from inside her own half, splitting the two visiting central defenders and Carlton applied the finish, taking a touch before drilling her left-footed shot across the keeper to find the bottom far corner.

Marrs said: “That (third goal) killed the game I think because they had a bit of momentum after (their goal).  They started to get to get in our half a little bit more.

“A great pass from Dee and then the finish was fantastic from DC. She was pushed further forward today, she normally plays at left-back so she found herself playing central midfield today and got her just rewards today with her two goals.”

The two-goal hero bossed the middle of the park and Marrs said: “She’s done really well. She’s got great feet, technically she’s probably our strongest player.  She’s been working really hard with the fitness side of her game. She’s really struggled with last year and she’s combined both of those this year.

“She’s a real contender for player-of-the-year with the form that she’s been in. She got player-of-the-month last month and she’s continued and managed to keep herself going so I’m well pleased with her.”

The fourth goal duly arrived just seven minutes later when Keogh whipped in another cross from the right and the ball was flicked out to Carlton, who drilled a low left-footed shot from a central position from 20-yards, which flashed to the right off Ahern, who was standing beside the keeper near the goal-line and underneath Witney into the centre of the goal.

Marrs added: “When you kill the game off that’s when I was looking to get the substitutes on. I had a couple of reserves on the bench today that came on so I needed to have a look at those as well.  I managed to get Kylie (Overton) and Amy (Russ) on and saw what they’ve got with half an hour to go so it’s always nice to kill the game off nice and early.”

Gillingham’s fifth goal, however, arrived with 20 minutes left following their tenth corner and Cooper fully deserved her goal after putting in an impressive performance at the heart of the defence.

Carlton swung in the corner towards the near post where Cooper flung herself to the ball and sent her diving header across the keeper into the middle of the goal.

“Fantastic header!” said Marrs.  “The girls’ are saying she basically jumped horizontally to get on the end of the ball. She’s really good in the air. She’s probably our strongest player in the air and that’s her first headed goal that she’s got this year.”

Cooper not only plays football for Kent’s highest ranked Women’s team but she plays cricket for Kent and England.

Marrs said: “She’s one of those girls’ who is good at everything, who can play everything. She’s struggling at the moment with a little bit of a bad back, not as though that showed today.

“She’s a top sportsman and she works hard at everything she does so definitely got her just reward for her goal.”

Smith, who had earlier replaced left-winger Crinnean, was momentary denied by Witney, who produced a flying save high to her left to pluck the ball out of the air after the substitute attempted to chip the ball into the top near corner.

But Gillingham wrapped up their comfortable victory with a penalty with fourteen minutes left.

Williams’ ball over the top was latched onto by substitute Smith, who burst into the penalty area before being brought down by Dons’ substitute Emma Kirby.

Smith’s finish was emphatic, lashing her right-footed penalty into the top left-hand corner.

Marrs revealed: “I expected DC to take it to basically score her hat-trick but DC actually gave the ball to Bryony because she won the penalty and we all looked at eachother on the sidelines – she’s hit it into the top corner and done a bit of a strange celebration.
But I think that’s her first one of the season. It was a fantastic penalty though!”

MK Dons went close to bringing some pride back into their woeful performance when Wright rode Cooper’s sliding challenge down the left before playing the ball across the face of the penalty area for McDonnel, who ghosted into the penalty area at the far post, pulled her right-footed angled drive past the far post.

The visitors’ finished the game with only ten players due to injury, and Pepper appeared to be yards offside when she latched onto a ball over the heart of the MK Dons’ defence but Witney made another fins save, low to her right, after Pepper tried to steer her shot into the bottom far corner.

Gillingham lost their leading goalscorer six-goal Charlotte Gurr, who has signed for her home-town club Brighton & Hove Albion.

“There’s always times when you miss players and you don’t miss players, especially players of her quality but she was struggling with the travelling so that eventually gave in,” explained Marrs.

”She tried all the way up to Christmas but once it starts getting dark at night it’s longer travelling.  We couldn’t basically afford to keep her so he’s gone. It comes to expense.  I don’t know how Brighton got on today. Hopefully she’s gone and done well and we wish her all the best.

“That’s a good thing for us because we’ve got such a big squad and such a strong squad, it didn’t actually look we had her missing today and hopefully it continues in the same vein of form for the rest of the season.”

Marrs was proud of the fact that his side did not commit one single foul in over 90 minutes of football today.

He said: “I always say to the girls’ if you’re going to ground you make sure you’ve got your foot on the ball straight away. We’ve tried so hard not to concede free-kicks in silly areas.  We knew MK Dons we’re a bigger side so conceding free-kicks around the penalty area they would be whipping balls in our box and it’s dangerous territory so I told them to stand up, win the balls the best you can and we never conceded a foul, which is a first I think.  You always get one foul somewhere don’t you?”

Gillingham scooped £300 in prize money with this win and when asked about the Third Round draw, Marrs replied, “Last year I was coach under Ian Varley and we managed to get to the Third Round. We went to Keynsham and we got beat 4-1, which weren’t a great trip!

“This year, who knows?  Hopefully we get a decent draw in the next round. I’m looking for a home draw. Our home form is quite good. It’s hard to come and play down here for other teams so hopefully we get another home draw and we go from there really and earn as much as we can.”

Meanwhile, Gillingham have six players and one on standby to play for Kent against Surrey at Sevenoaks Town’s Greatness Park on Wednesday evening.

Smith, Cooper, Blackie are joined by Amy Russ, Amy Taylor and Emma Wood, with goalkeeper Charlotte Stevens on stand-by for the game.

Their proud manager said: “I think that’s the maximum that they can have but we always manage to get the full quota of players in the Kent side but that’s down to their hard work and their performances. They get noticed, which is a good thing.”

Gillingham:  Ruth Jackson, Lauren Williams, Emma Wood, Jay Blackie, Deanna Cooper, Amy Taylor (Amy Russ 71), Natalie Crinean (Bryony Smith 57), Nicole Pepper, Rachel Ahern, Danielle Carlton, Jade Keogh (Kylie Overton 67).
Sub: Charlotte Stevens

Goals: Jade Keogh 7, Trip Witney 33 (own goal), Danielle Carlton 54, 61, Deanna Cooper 70, Bryony Smith 76 (pen)

MK Dons: Trip Witney, Kaye Henton, Carissa Kosovorswki, Oliva Dacosta (Emma Kirby 58), Charlotte Wright, Elizabeth Stanton, Hannah Barret (Sophie Mulvihill 26), Heather McDonnell, Nikki Tarrent, Leah Cudone (Emily Mann 46), Bryony Levitt.

Goal: Emily Mann 48

Attendance: 75
Referee: Mr Ashley Smith (Chatham)
Assistants: Mr Matthew Earl (Rochester) & Mr Andrew Cutting (Gillingham)