Arsenal 2-0 Gillingham - Our girls stood up to Arsenal, says proud boss James Marrs

ARSENAL  2-0  GILLINGHAM
The FA Women’s Cup Fifth Round
Sunday 13^th April 2014
Stephen McCartney reports from Meadow Park

GILLINGHAM manager James Marrs was beaming with pride after his side were knocked out of The FA Women’s Cup by holders Arsenal.

The FA Women’s Premier League Southern Division leaders put in a spirited and resilient display against an Arsenal side that contained fifteen internationals in their sixteen player squad.

The Gunners – who defeated Bristol Academy 3-0 in last year’s final to win the silverware for the 12^th time in their history – were thankful to Kelly Smith’s left foot to avoiding slipping up on the potential banana skin.

Arsenal – who reached the men’s FA Cup Final after needing penalties to see of holders Wigan Athletic (of the Championship) at Wembley Stadium after being held to a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes yesterday – were restricted to only two goals by the determined Kent side.

England’s leading goalscorer Smith spared any blushes by converting a 63^rd minute before drilling a stunning strike from 25-yards with ten minutes remaining to break Gillingham’s hearts in the club’s biggest game in their six year history.

“Words can’t explain how hard they’ve worked out there for me, I’m really, really proud,” said Marrs, 26.

“They stuck at what we wanted them to do, just grafted and stayed disciplined and done really, really, really well, lost 1-0 in open play, so we can’t complain about that especially with the calibre of player that they had out.

“We were absolutely superb and if we can put in performances like that towards the end of the season, I’m sure there’s some silverware coming out way.”

The Gills claimed the Kent Women’s Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic (reserves) at Maidstone United on Thursday night, where Marrs’ side created 26 goalscoring opportunities.

But today was going to be a completely different game from the one that the travelling supporters witnessed at The Gallagher Stadium.

“We’ve come from a game on Thursday night, we’re straight in again playing today against them but they worked really, really hard, plugged the gaps, did what we asked them to do,” said Marrs, whose side lost their run of six wins on the bounce.

“It’s very, very difficult when you’re playing against a team of that calibre but our girls stood up to them I thought they’ve done the club proud, done themselves proud and we’re just ecstatic with them.”

The home fans inside Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park expected the Super League 1 giants to bang in the goals, but Gillingham were having none of it!

The Gunners created their first of fourteen attempts on goal (seven of them on target) inside the opening five minutes.

Left-back Emma Mitchell whipped in a cross from the left, which was partially cleared by Deanna Cooper at the near post and the ball came out to Japanese World Cup winner Yukari Kinga, who hit a first time right-footed drive over the bar from 20-yards.

Arsenal’s second of twelve corners was played short by Japanese midfielder Shinobu Ohno to Mitchell, who played the ball back to Ohno who found Smith, who sent her left-footed curler sailing harmlessly wide of the far post from the corner of the penalty area.

Gillingham – who didn’t threaten Arsenal goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain, 30, during the game – ventured forward in the tenth minute with a half chance.

Deanna Cooper clipped the ball out of defence to release Nikita Whinnett down the right and her speculative shot was gathered by Chamberlain at her near post.

Marrs explained why his side didn’t venture forward to try to win the game.

“Listen, you come here and open them up against a team like that you’re asking for trouble – you can’t!”

“Birmingham done exactly the same thing.  Birmingham, I think, had a little bit more going forwards than what we had today in terms of going forward.

“You can’t open them up against a team like that. We had a job to do. We stuck to that job and they had to work to beat us and a little bit lucky in some stages, I think.”

Other than that, Gillingham were content to park the bus in front of goal and battle immensely for every ball and putting their bodies on the line, especially during the second half.

Gillingham keeper Faye Baker made a comfortable save from a quickly taken free-kick from 35-yards from Smith, which bounced once into the keeper’s arms after fourteen minutes.

But Baker made a morale boosting save within two minutes as Arsenal penetrated down the left-hand side.

Smith played the ball inside to winger Rachel Yankey, who glided past Gillingham’s right-back Lauren Davis to reach the by-line before cutting the ball back for Smith, whose left-footed shot forced Baker to dive to her left to parry before the ball was cleared away.

Marrs said: “She didn’t have to do much did she really?”

“She made a couple of saves, one near down with her feet down at the front post when she made a couple of stops but she weren’t peppered.

“But she stayed concentrated, which is very difficult to do, especially when things are moving from side-to-side all the time and in and out and she’s constantly on her toes and moving around left, right and centre so her discipline and her determination was absolutely top draw.”

Like in all David-versus-Goliath FA Cup ties, it’s vital that the lower league side reaches the opening 20 minutes unscathed.

However, Arsenal squandered an excellent chance to break the deadlock in the 24^th minute.

Leah Williamson clipped the ball out of defence which caught the Gillingham defence flat-footed for the first time and released Ohno through on goal but the 30-year-old fluffed her lines and her right-footed dinked shot from 12-yards sailed harmlessly wide of the left-hand post.

Arsenal linked up well outside the Gillingham penalty area with striker Danielle Carter playing a key role which ended in Smith blasting her left-footed drive over Baker’s bar from 30-yards.

Baker made her second save of the half in the 40^th minute when Gillingham were opened up.

A dinked pass from Yukari Kinga from the middle to the left gave Ohno acres of space who then played in Mitchell whose left-footed shot from a tight angle from eight-yards was blocked by Baker’s left knee as she got swiftly down low to her left.

Despite Arsenal creating the chances, Gillingham were in fact playing the better passing football than their more illustrious opponents, who resulted in hitting a number of long balls forward.

It appeared that Arsenal underestimated Gillingham, who deserved to go in at the break on equal terms.

“We said we was going to come here and give them a game and that’s what we’ve done,” highlighted Marrs.

“We’ve stuck to our jobs and stuck to our task and didn’t give them any respect. You can’t give players respect on a football pitch because they take advantage of that so whether they took it easy or whether they didn’t take it easy, when did they score? It took them 63 minutes to score and that’s a penalty so it took them 80 minutes to score a goal in open play.”

Arsenal certainly came out with much more urgency after the break and continued to press but Gillingham kept throwing their bodies on the line to frustrate Shelley Kerr’s side.

Smith was given time and space to unleash a left-footed angled drive from 30-yards, which bounced harmlessly wide of the far post inside the opening four minutes.

Gillingham were awarded a free-kick some 35-yards from goal in the 52^nd minute but Charlotte Gurr’s left-footed free-kick was too close to Chamberlain, who comfortably plucked the ball out of the air.

Arsenal continued to shoot from distance as there was a sea of blue shirts in front of them that were giving Baker plenty of protection.

Williamson was also given time and space, whose right-footed shot also sailed harmlessly wide.

But Gillingham’s resilience was broken when a mistake from skipper Jay Blackie gifted Arsenal the lead.

The central midfielder dived in to bring Smith down just inside the penalty area and referee Jario Marin showed no hesitation to point to the spot.

Smith stepped up and sent Baker the wrong way with the resulting penalty, which she dinked just left of centre.

“She’s dived in, she knows what the score is, we don’t have to tell her,” said Marrs.

“We’re not going to batter her about that.  People are going to make mistakes at the end of the day. We’re only human but she’s gone and dived it.

“But for the rest of the game she’s playing in the middle area getting her toe and her head on things.

“Her commitment is right up there, which is why she’s captain of this football club at the moment. Her commitment and desire and her hard work drives the rest of the girls on and I’m proud of her for coming out and leading the team against Arsenal today in round five of The FA Cup.

“Just because she’s made an error doesn’t change our views on her.”

Instead of going for it to try to restore parity, Gillingham remained well disciplined and continued to frustrate Arsenal, who were camped in the Gills half of the pitch.

Arsenal should have increased their lead with 20 minutes left.

Yankey whipped in a cross from the left, which was headed away by Gillingham left-back Fliss Gibbons and Smith took a touch before stroking a weak shot towards goal from 20-yards, which was comfortably saved by Baker.

Marrs praised Lisa Fulgence – who scored two of the goals that helped Gillingham beat Charlton Athletic 3-0 to win the Kent Women’s Cup at Maidstone United last Thursday night – who worked tirelessly up front on her own before running out of steam before being replaced by Rachel Ahern with 12 minutes left.

The manager said: “She knew it was going to be a shift. When we told her we were playing with one up front she sort of looked at me and I said ‘Lisa it’s going to be one of those days for you girl’, and she went ‘I’m prepared!’

“She put a shift in and I brought her off after 78 minutes because she’s run her heart out for 78 minutes and gave me everything that she had.”

But Arsenal – who kick-off their Super League One campaign with a trip to Notts County on Wednesday night – killed the game off with ten minutes remaining.

Smith broke from the shackles and picked the ball up before bursting forward some 20-yards before drilling a quality left-footed drive from 25-yards which Baker could only watch scream over her left shoulder to find the top right-hand corner.

The only difference between the two sides proved to be Smith’s left-boot.

“There were differences, you could see they’re a class above and what we’re aspiring to get like as such,” said Marrs.

“Their movement was very, very good, very, very good and we had to make sure that we followed runners. It was a hard day for them to track runners and bits and pieces. Their movement was good. They moved the ball around really well. They’re a good side. There as expected and how they should be but giving them too much time on the edge of the box to hit one in the top corner that’s something that we weren’t best pleased with, considering that we’ve plugged the gaps for the rest of the game.

“We’ve said give them too much time on the edge of the box ‘they’re going to punish you,’ and we had one slip in concentration and she’s belted it into the top corner – so I will take that.”

Arsenal almost scored a flattering third inside injury time when Kinga clipped a diagonal ball to release full-back Alex Scott down the right who whipped in a cross towards the penalty area but substitute Bianca Bragg, an Academy graduate and the only Arsenal player without an international cap – skied her right-footed shot over the bar from 12-yards.

Gillingham and their loyal band of footballers can be immensely proud of their side’s achievements not only in this Cup competition but domestically as well.

The Kent side defeated Queen’s Park Rangers (2-1, after extra time), Nottingham Forest (1-0) and Preston North End (1-0) to earn the right to go face-to-face with one of England’s biggest football clubs.

Gillingham deserved their standing ovation at the final whistle.

Gillingham remain four points clear of The FA Premier Southern Division table with 35 points from 15 games and host third-placed Cardiff City to Chatham Town’s Maidstone Road ground next Sunday.  The Welsh club are only five points behind and Gillingham will be looking to bounce back with three points in the bag.

Gillingham have five league games left to play and also play Haverhill Rovers in the Ryman Women’s Cup Final at Chatham on 8 May.

“We didn’t know what to say to them at the end,” admitted Marrs.

“We’re just pleased with them with the amount of work that we’ve put in. They stuck to their task and now hopefully they can see they’ve got a little bit of belief and they realise their own ability and how they actually are and how good they can be and what we’re aspiring to.”

If they do go on and win the league title this season, Gillingham deserve to take their place in Super League Two next summer.

But due to the Super League being a closed shop for the Kent club after failing to put in a successful bid to join the new Second tier which starts this week, Gillingham will stay where they are in the footballing pyramid next season.

Marrs said: “To lose 2-0 to a Super League One side says a lot about our credentials and says a lot about where we want to go as a football club.

“We’ve conceded two goals against the reigning holders of the competition. They beat Bristol 3-0 in the final last year so we’re taking a lot of positives and we’re looking forwards.

“We now move on. We forget this now. We’ll enjoy the after match stuff in the bar and the can chill out and relax and we’re back making preparations on Tuesday.

“Our attentions turn to Cardiff now. We’ve got to do our best to compete for the title. If they can give us anywhere near what they’ve given us today, fingers crossed we’ll be a tough test for Cardiff next week.”

It was just a shame that Gillingham couldn’t register a goal so that player can tell their family and friends that they scored against giants Arsenal in the last sixteen of The FA Cup.

“I just had to tell them just how proud of them I was. I don’t tell them that too often,” admitted Marrs.

“I just wanted to let them know the appreciation from us and the amount of hard work that they’ve put in and we want them to start believing and start actually believing in their ability and what they can actually go out and do and what we can achieve as a football club.

“Coming from last year and this year I can say the difference has been absolutely huge and they’ve seen that today and they said at the final whistle you can see it in their faces that their starting to believe. It’s a very important thing to have in a football team. 

“You need to believe in yourself and believe in your team-mates.  If you can you’ll always get that extra 10-15% and we’ve done that today and I’m well chuffed, well chuffed.”

Arsenal: Siobhan Chamberlain, Alex Scott, Emma Mitchell, Yukari Kinga, Casey Stoney, Leah Williamson, Shinobu Ohno, Christie Murray, Danielle Carter (Jade Bailey 81), Kelly Smith (Bianca Bragg 89), Rachel Yankey.
Subs: Emma Byrne, Niamh Fahey, Freda Ayisi

Goals: Kelly Smith 63 (penalty), 80

Gillingham: Faye Baker, Lauren Davis, Fliss Gibbons, Jay Blackie, Deanne Cooper, Amy Taylor, Nikita Whinnett, Emma Tune (Charlotte Long 81), Lisa Fulgence (Rachel Ahern 78), Charlotte Gurr, Lauren Phillips.
Subs: Lauren Williams, Danielle Carlton, Jade Keogh

Attendance: 458
Referee: Mr Jario Marin (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)
Assistants: Mr Joshua Few (Histon, Cambridgeshire) & Ms Mary Harmer (North Walsham, Norfolk)