Hill hoping Gloucester City Women can prove they belong after “special” cup run

Gloucester City Women First Team Manager Chris Hill has praised his side for producing a history making Women’s FA Cup run this season and calls for them to emulate their displays in the league – starting against AEK Boco Ladies on Sunday.

Hill’s side were knocked out of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup on Sunday, losing 6-2 away at AFC Portchester as they appeared in the First Round for the very first time.

Despite the result, there were plenty of positives for City throughout the cup run and speaking to Severn Sport for this weekend’s Buttee’s For Breakfast programme, Hill praised his side and believes they will be better for the experience.

“I’m really proud [of the team]. Obviously each year we want to do one better than last year, see how far we can get,” said Hill.

“We’ve had some good games, obviously Stoneham in the round before were very much a challenge, something new for us and then obviously Portchester on Sunday, just a level above to be perfectly honest with you. But the girls competed extremely well.

We said many times to the girls, you know, to make the First Round proper, to have the draw on the TV and a lot of the coverage that came with it, is something that they should cherish because it doesn’t happen to many people.

And I think it does set a standard of, like I said, we want to go one better next year. So who knows? Everybody knows we’re ambitious and we’re driven. And yeah, for the girls to be part of it as well was something special for them,” added Hill.

Gloucester will now focus on league action, with their debut season in the South West Regional Premier Division effectively restarting.

Due to a couple of sides withdrawing from the league and City’s cup run, they have only played two league matches and have as many as four games in hand on sides above them and with two big home games in consecutive weeks against Boco and then Forest Green Rovers, Hill and his side are hoping to see good home support to help spur them on.

“It goes without saying the girls enjoy playing in front of a crowd,” said Hill.

“We had a good crowd at Portchester, which was a really good environment. Very vocal, as you’d expect. It would be nice to replicate that at home with the fans on our side.

The girls love playing in front of fans, not just family, so any support is more than welcome,” Hill added.

And City’s crucial run of league matches doesn’t start much harder than table tapping AEK Boco Ladies, who have won four out of their five league games so far.

Ahead of Sunday’s game, Hill admits that a win for his side against a quality side like Boco would lay down a big marker that his side belong at their new level.

“If we can secure three points at home, I think that would certainly indicate that we’re ready for this level,” Hill said.

“Boco are a very good side, very good side. We know their threats, it’s how we can counter them and we will see what happens on Sunday.

It would be a marker for us to kind of prove ourselves that we’re worthy of where we are, but look, we’ve got a full 90 minutes and we’ve got to win our individual battles and our team battles out on that pitch and that will show us where we are,” Hill added.

Listen to Hill’s full interview on this week’s Buttee’s For Breakfast show on Saturday morning, live from 9am.

READ MORE: Check out the list of Saturday’s fixtures in and around Gloucestershire right here

READ MORE: Check out the list of Sunday’s Women’s fixtures in and around Gloucestershire right here

Cover photo taken and copyright Jamie Brain Photography. Visit his Instagram @jamiebrain_photography