Sunday 28th September 2008

Gravesham 10 - 0 Maidstone United Rascals

Maidstone ladies visited Gravesham Ladies who were sitting top of the league after three games and unfortunately it turned out not to be an easy day for The Stones who found themselves on the end of a footballing lesson.

The introduction of Alison Goddard allowed The Stones to move Captain Cheryl Cloude from her right back position into midfield and to bring some of her needed experience, all to no avail as Gravesham opened up the Stones defence and went one nil up after 10 mninutes and by half time were 5-0 up. More of the same followed after the break as Gravesham hit another 5 past the Stones.

Manager John Harvey said "Overall the result wasn't good for the ladies but we can take some positives from the game. We had many of the players lasting the full game and coming away with some oxygen left in the tanks, however it was one of the hottest days of September and we had a few players breaking down with heat exhaustion. We also lost Laura Grant with a Knee injury and debutant Alison Goddard with a groin strain and several players had blisters."

"We should not loose sight of what we have achieved so far, we now have a squad of 18 players some of them have never played for a team before and so will need to learn to play the game."

"Overall I am happy with how the team is developing and yes we have areas to improve but we have a great spirit within the team."

Player of the Match for the Stones was Charley Mitten who is showing some great character and is developing into a valuable member of the Ladies team