Gargan looking to keep consistency

Shels’ Jess Gargan has praised her sides defensive performances in the wake of their 9th clean sheet in ten games.

Speaking to Aaron Clarke for finalwhistle.ie’s WNL show following her sides 3-0 victory over Bohemians, Gargan expressed her delight with the clean sheets the Reds have continued to put up.

“Once we score one our job as defenders, we say to each other, Pearl always says it, she says keep a clean sheet. Whether we get to two, three or four, it’s the clean sheet that’s more important to us.

“It’s what we’ve done well so far this season, but I know it’s only early days. So we have to keep it up. But yeah, it’s brilliant that we’re keeping it up and we’re solid at the back and Amanda (Budden) and the defenders and everyone is really defending from the front. We’ve been doing great. So we need to keep it up.”

Obviously the key in these games is to win and Gargan and her unit defending well has meant those wins have come despite imperfect performances.

“You know, I think DLR was our test where it didn’t go so well. And I think we had been getting by and up until that game, as you say we weren’t playing the best. And we were we were winning, which is great. And that shows a good team that even when you’re not playing good, you can still win.

“But I think DLR was a bit of a wake up call. And it came at the right time. We went into Wexford, we went into Peamount, won them games, which are the really big important ones.

“I’d say maybe the year before last we wouldn’t have won them games when we weren’t playing well. So it shows that we’re a good team that we can still get the three points even when we’re not playing well. But we want to build into performance now and have good performances and build on the wins.”

On an individual note, Gargan is more than pleased with where her performances are at.

“Yeah, I think I’ve been improving since the start of the season, probably my last few games I have been better. I don’t care if other players get the credit, defenders never really do. I just want to keep on improving my game, do my best for the club.

“I feel like why I’m playing better is because I’m enjoying it. And that comes from the management and the team. The manager gets me to go down the wing every time, and against the bigger teams, you know, you think you might be a bit more conservative, but Noel always says don’t change your game and having that freedom and the confidence behind you is massive for any player.

“So it’s a lot of credit to Noel for giving me that go ahead and the confidence to go it really makes me you know, feel valued as a player, which makes a big difference.”

Shels face DLR Waves this week, the only team to have beaten them so far. Gargan and her Shels teammates are determined to avoid a repeat however.

They’re the only team that’s caused us problems this year. So we can’t rest now, we have to keep on going and build on today’s performance.

“They’re always a tough team to play against. They have enough for Shels every time, probably half of their team, are ex Shels players. So it’s right that they do have it up for us, but it’d be a tough game and we won’t take it lightly anyway, we’re preparing the right way.”

Formerly DCU Journalism, covering mainly Athlone teams for finalwhistle.ie

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