Perks delighted with comeback victory over Gwalia

It was not easy for Argyle Women as they beat Gwalia United 4-3 at Home Park on Sunday afternoon, but Head Coach Ryan Perks declared himself delighted at the comeback victory.  

The Greens were 3-1 down, with an Ellie Sara goal outweighed by three strikes from their opponents from South Wales, before Sara got another on 56 minutes. With just under ten minutes to go, Charlotte Whitmore equalised, and Sara scored her third very shortly afterwards, giving Argyle an important victory.  

It was a third straight win for the Pilgrims, following a triumph in the FAWNL Cup against divisional rivals Billericay Town, and a 6-0 victory over Poole Town in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup last weekend.  

After composing himself, Perks spoke to Argyle TV, saying: “I've just said to the girls at full-time: ‘Can we please make a game a little bit more comfortable so I can breathe a little bit?!’   

“It was a dramatic game. Everyone was on the edge of their seat. I think we showed a bit of character and resilience after going 3-1 down to come back and get the three points. I couldn't be happier today.  

“We spoke at half-time about the importance of not conceding early in the second half, and then from a long ball over the top - I think it could have been a foul on Caitlin {Smith] -Gwalia punish us.  

“It's easy to then crumble, so to show the character and resilience, we know we've got that in abundance in this team, we've shown it over the years.  

“If we went 3-1 down a couple of weeks ago, would we have come back? Maybe not, possibly not. We’ve just got to keep believing in ourselves.  

“I think we've been unlucky in games this season. I don't think we have got as many points on the board as we probably should have, but we are where we are in the table. This win's massive for us.” 

Sara’s hat-trick follows another huge haul she attained at Home Park last season, when she scored five in a game against Ilminster Town. Whitmore, meanwhile, who began this game playing on the flank and later joined Sara in the forward line, has been consistently on the mark all season.  

Perks, naturally, was delighted with the pair on Sunday, saying: “We're conceding far too many goals, but luckily the strikers have turned up and been clinical. 

“Ellie found the shooting boots she had last season, and she's scored three fantastic goals. For the first one, we've worked on stuff like that in training this week, and it was nice to see it come off, with the wide players dropping in and creating space. 

“We know what Ellie's about, and we spoke about it before the game, about getting her inside the box. That's where she's clinical, that's where she's been the best since she was about ten, to be fair. You give her anything 18 yards out and she'll score goals.  

“I'm really pleased for her and also for Charlotte to get on the scoresheet. We played Char out wide because we know of Gwalia's threats early out wide on the right, they’ve got pace in abundance, so we sort of matched that up. Char's got an engine, runs all day for us, and you can see that again today.  

“She's not just a goalscorer. She brings so much more to the team than just goals.” 

Argyle’s men’s team striker Ryan Hardie was a spectator at the game on Sunday, along with his young son, while Under-18s Head Coach Jamie Lowry could be found in attendance too. While the former was enjoying the game following some personal training, Lowry’s brief was to assist Perks, to be some eyes from up high, and the assistance seemed to pay off.  

“Myself and Neil [Dewsnip} asked Jamie to come along to get a different viewpoint from up top to see if he can see anything that we don't notice on the bench,” said Perks. “That was a good help, having Jamie around, and it was nice that Ryan came along too.   

“We spoke to him before the game. He was in doing some runs after yesterday's game, keeping himself ticking over in the international break, so it's brilliant when the men's team and the Under-18s’ staff can support us as much as they can.  

“Having Jamie around today has been a massive help - I might ask him to do it again!”