Gillingham Ladies powered their way to a first win of the season with a sensational performance against Sussex based Whitehawk, a fixture they had lost 3-1 last season.

Once again the Gillingham management made changes to the starting XI and this time also altered the formation. Ian Varley worked on switching to 4-3-1-2, in training this week, to create more chances. The girls adapted to it well and manager Martin Andrews went with the new formation.

Kim Bolden & Tina Martin were unfortunate to find themselves on the bench with Leslie Kay & Anna Broad brought in to side. Broad played behind the front two, whilst Leslie sat in the middle with Leanne Stevens and Kelly Seath.

The other notable change was skipper Becky Lyons moving back into her preferred centre back role in preference to Tina Martin who is still adapting to moving several divisons up after joining from Gravesham last season.

Gillingham Ladies started quickly out the blocks as straight away the formation made Anna Broad very dangerous. She was finding space all the time as Whitehawk constantly failed to pick her up. Kylie Overton once again was looking sharp up front but it was a well worked set piece that brought the first goal. Anna Broad delivered a perfect corner from the left and midfielder Leanne Stevens lost her marker to head home her first goal of the season.

The Gills stepped up the tempo and soon found themselves 2-0 up, again Anna Broad delivered a perfect cross field ball into the path of the Kylie Overton who took the ball into the box with her first touch and dispatched it past the helpless Whitehawk goalkeeper.

Gillingham could have added more, but found themselves being pushed back into their own half. Alison Smith in the Gills goal produced a couple of good saves but otherwise the defence managed to keep the visitors at bay.

The second half started with Gillingham very much in control as the Whitehawk keeper produced several good saves to keep Overton and Goodall at bay. As the game went on Martin Andrews was forced to make several changes as right back Whitney Judd suffered a couple of heavy challenges which forced her off.  Zara Phillips came on to replace her and midfielder Leanne Stevens also came off injured with Terri Reynolds replacing her.

With these changes, Martin Andrews switched formation to a 4-4-2 and Kirsty Goodall who worked hard up front all afternoon made way for Gemma Ridge so that the players out on the park fitted more comfortably into the system.

This gave Gillingham a different dimension and once again Whitehawk found themselves pegged back in their half. Kylie Overton's pace saw her go through one on one, she chipped the keeper and the ball dropped just under the crossbar to make it 3-0, with about 15 minutes left.

Whitehawk did get on the score sheet shortly after, as they capitalised on a mix up between Victoria Ashton-Jones (AJ) & keeper Alison Smith on the edge of their box. Both left it for each other and the Whitehawk striker took advantage by tapping it into the empty net.

For the first time in the game Gillingham had to pick their heads up. Anna Broad provided the perfect tonic when she rounded off an awesome individual display, firing in a hard shot which hit the roof of the net to give the final score Gillingham 4 v 1 Whitehawk.

After the game Martin Andrews was delighted with the Gills Ladies "After the disappointment of losing to an 87th minute goal last week, the Ladies worked ever so hard in training and carried it onto the pitch today. The management team of myself and Ian Varley has asked different questions of them during the week and they have given the right answers today."

"This team, in attitude and commitment, is so different to the one I took over at the beginning of July. The biggest test is the next game as we go away to newly promoted Luton Town who have set the league alight with 3 consecutive wins over, Northampton, Tottenham & Cambridge, hitting 11 goals in those 3 games."

Gillingham: Smith, N.Seath, W.Judd (Z.Phillips), B.Lyons(c), V.Ashton-Jones, L.Kay, L.Stevens (T.Reynolds), K.Seath, A.Broad, K.Goodall (G.Ridge, K.Overton.

Subs Not Used :- T.Martin, K.Bolden

Scorers:- Overton 2, Broad, Stevens.

Season Stats

P3, W1, D1, L1, F7, A4 Pts 4

Lge Pos - 6th

Scorers

Overton - 3

Broad - 1

Kay-1

Lyons - 1

Stevens - 1