As Hashtag do not yet have their own ground, the men play home games at Bowers & Pitsea and the women at Aveley FC.
“One of the things that makes the club special is that the men and women are treated equally, we all get the same stuff. The only difference is that we don’t train in the same place,” said Gillard.
As well as QPR, the league includes other ‘name’ clubs including Norwich City, AFC Wimbledon and Cambridge United, but it is Hashtag who will make the step up to the third tier of women’s football next term.
Gillard said: “To play against teams with those sorts of names and win makes it more of a statement.”
So have the men and women of Hashtag United been egging each other on in recent weeks?
“We are all in a group chat and very focused on being one club,” she said. “We are all very supportive and some of the men are coming on Sunday when we receive the trophy for some group pictures.
“Everyone is on a high. It makes it more special rather than one being on a high and the other disappointed.”
Gillard is known for providing what the club website describes as “pre-game cheesy pop music”.
Her two go-to tunes this season have been I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys and The Weather Girls’ It’s Raining Men.
And although Sammy Rowland is their prolific top scorer, Gillard herself has pitched in with 14 goals despite playing at centre-back.
“Up to this season, I haven’t really been a goalscorer, but there have been free-kicks, penalties, it’s not just been down to one thing,” she said.
“Because we have been such an attacking team this season, that has allowed the defence to be higher up the pitch at times.”
“Double promotion. Record-breaking season for both sides. Couldn’t be prouder. 2023 – the year of the Hashtag,” Owen posted on Twitter on Sunday.
And he is looking at providing a shared permanent home for both teams in the future.
“There have been a few options, I think, but nothing has come to fruition. That’s one of his big things going forwards,” said Gillard.
Right now, though, both owner and players are happy to be sharing “cloud nine”.