Gillingham Ladies FC were the stars of ITV’s flagship South East news programme, Meridian Tonight, last weekend.

The Meridian TV cameras visited Martin Grove for Gillingham’s South East Combination League clash with Northampton Town back in November and captured the action as the Gills produced a spectacular performance to defeat the Cobblers by four goals to nil.

Manager Ian Varley, Director of Football Martin Andrews and winger Ashlee Hincks were all interviewed for the feature, which highlighted some of the financial troubles affecting the women’s game.

Highlights from the video include striker Natalie Crinean’s hat-trick, featuring a crashing volley from the edge of the area, as well as Hincks’ 30-yard free-kick that left the Cobblers’ keeper grasping at air.

The video also features an interview with Reading Women’s goalkeeper Michelle Beazley and takes a look at the development of Pompey Ladies U13s under the stewardship of manager Barrie Fricker.

Gills Ladies Media Manager Simon Head helped organise Meridian’s visit and explained that the club was making great strides to climb the women’s football pyramid, but needed support and investment to help sustain their improvement on and off the pitch.

“It’s incredibly difficult to keep a team going without financial support when you’re playing at this level,” he explained.

“The league requirements demand certain facilities at your home ground, plus you have to pay for officials, awayday travel, matchday kit, training kit, balls, bibs, the lot.

“They pay huge sums to play at their home ground and their training ground and it’s all coming out of the pockets of the guys running the team and the girls who play.

“For example, other teams are provided kit by the clubs they represent. If Gillingham Ladies want to play in this year’s Gillingham kit they have been told they’ll have to buy their kit from the club shop.”

Head only joined the Gillingham Ladies setup at the start of the season, but he has seen first hand the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to run the team and believes the Ladies deserve more backing to help them succeed.

“When you see the help some other clubs get from their parent clubs, it makes the job Martin Andrews and Ian Varley are doing look all the more remarkable,” he explained.

“They’ve still been able to turn an ailing team into a championship contender. Everyone involved with the team deserves a huge pat on the back.

“Hopefully Meridian’s excellent feature will put the spotlight on the team and show people that Gillingham are a great side that play good football – and highlight that they are doing so out of their own pockets.

“It would be fantastic to think that someone out there might fancy taking an active interest in the team and back us with some much-needed sponsorship.

“That would be just as valuable to the club as gaining promotion.”

The video can be seen exclusively on the Gillingham Ladies Official Website at www.gillinghamladies.co.uk