‘This season has been a massive learning curve’

READING FC Women’s boss Liam Gilbert reflected on the season after his side secured Women’s Championship safety with a victory over Durham.

Jessie Stapelton scored the only goal of the game before relegation rivals Lewes lost out to Crystal Palace which confirmed Reading’s safety.

“The girls were fantastic, the way they’ve been building on from last week, it’s an absolute credit to themselves,” said Gilbert.

“I cannot give them enough praise about how well they’ve stuck together and fought for one another, especially in these last couple of weeks.

“Obviously we could have won by a few more, it certainly would have helped the heart rate But all that matters now is the three points and enjoying this moment of safety.

“I think what you’ve seen within this group is the development of the players’ mentality and attitude throughout the season, even when you look back two months ago, it looked bleak.

“But they’ve kept pushing, fighting, and got all the rewards for it now.”

Reflecting on the season as a whole, Gilbert wants to use it as a learning curve and heaped praise on everyone at the club, both the men’s and women’s team, for dealing with all the turmoil of the last year.

He continued: “For me, personally, this season has been a massive learning curve – I think that’s probably the best way of putting it.

“Of course, there’s been a lot of things going on around the club, that is out of our control, and it has possibly had an impact, it’s the same with the men’s team.

“So for both sides to show what they have, it’s a commendable effort to every single person involved.

“But on the game, I’m just really happy the girls got what they’ve deserved today, another clean sheet, three points, a good final performance in front of our fans this season, and to top it off, survival.

“Right now we’ll celebrate this moment, but we still have one game left, so it’s important to show that level of professionalism until the end of the season.

“We’ll come into training this week, go through our usual processes of preparing for the match.

“We’ll put in a collective effort to get the best result we can come Sunday.”