After a much longer winter break than was previously planned, the Aberdeen FC Women’s team will be back in action next month as they continue their push to return to the top league in Scotland.

The fixtures for the restart of the 2020/2021 Scottish Building Society SWPL 2 season have been announced today (Thursday, May 6).

All of the teams will be allowed to restart contact training on May 17, ahead of the first of the revised fixtures on June 6. Having played 10 games already, the season will be concluded after two full rounds of fixtures as agreed by clubs unanimously as part of the league’s COVID contingency planning process. SWPL 2 will conclude on Sunday July 4, with two teams gaining promotion to SWPL 1 and no teams relegated.

From their opening 10 games, Aberdeen won nine, with just the one defeat coming against Partick Thistle. 43 goals scored has also led to a very impressive goal difference at the halfway point of the campaign. Aberdeen sit seven points clear of Dundee United, whom they beat 4-3 on the opening day of the season in October after an incredible late comeback. Hamilton and Partick Thistle are a further point back.

After being informed of the fixtures for the conclusion of the season, coach Emma Hunter had a range of emotions.

She said: “We knew about two weeks ago that the fixtures were going to go ahead, and the season would be finished, but to actually see an announcement with the games and the dates makes it all the more real for us. My phone has been ringing off the hook! All the team have been messaging me and saying it’s great news. They are all really chuffed. That is the main thing, the fact the players are getting to go back out onto the pitch and can do the thing that they love doing. So, we are all very excited and can’t wait until the restart on June 6

“As well as the excitement, relief is also a word that I would use.

“When we did not know what was happening, there is always that doubt at the back of your mind, especially as time goes on. You start to ask yourself will the fixtures get played, would that mean we would get automatic promotion, or will the season be null and void? This news is a relief, and we can now go and finish things on the pitch. This could be huge for us as we continue our development as a team.”

After spending much of the first half of the campaign on the road, five of the remaining eight games are now at home.

“We have a good number of home games and that will be an advantage. The way it was structured, we knew we would have more home games towards the end of the campaign. When you look back now and see some of the results, we got during that first half of the season away from home, it is a huge credit to the girls.

“Our home form is always that little bit better as we don’t need to travel, and we are comfortable at our home facility and playing on our home pitch. It is a good run of fixtures we have got. We do have a couple of midweek away fixtures which throws up some challenges, but we are all just so thankful to be back, we will do all we can to make sure we are prepared as much as possible for each game. The ultimate aim would be to get some supporters into the final few home games. It would be great to have people watching us.

“I have to be honest and say It has been really challenging for the players and myself. Probably as a coach, it’s been one of the hardest periods of time I have had working in the game. I have had to try and keep the girls motivated and keep them working on their fitness, all working towards a date that we didn’t know would ever come.

“The lack of contact training has really been difficult. It has allowed us to work on certain aspects of our play, but you can only do that for so long as they were all just desperate to get back to normal football. So, it has been a long, long time and really challenging for me as a coach having to think of things to do each week to keep them engaged and motivated. Luckily for me, we have a fantastic group of players. It does not matter what I ask them to do, they always give me 100 percent.

“We are all in a really good place. We are in good shape as we have no injury concerns, and we are looking fresh again. As soon as that contact training is allowed, we can really up the tempo and try and get them as match ready as possible. That is the big worry, there is only going to be a three-week transition to get them up to full speed and at the level you want them to be at. It is not going to be easy, but all the teams are in the same boat.”

The aim for the team is to come back and play at the same high level they had produced across the first ten games of the campaign. That won’t be easy, but Emma is clear on how they need to tackle the rest of the season.

“We have always been a team that has clear goals and objectives. Getting promotion was always at the top of that list. I believe that is important to have that goal. We know where we want to go and where we want to be in the future. We talk about the future all the time. We are never stagnating; we are always looking ahead as well as identifying the objectives for each game. We are always clear on the direction we want to go in. It keeps you motivated for that end goal.

“The reason we have that end goal is because we believe we are capable of it as a team. We have a real belief in what we can do and what we can potentially do in the future as well. That is something we embed into them all the time and our values are that we want to be the very best we can be. When we recruit players that is the attitude we need. We want to bring players here you want to develop and be the best they can be.

“So, getting promotion to SWPL 1 has never left our sights, but we still have some massive hurdles to come. Just because we have a seven-point advantage does not mean it is done and dusted. We have had a long break; anything can happen on the return. We need to stay really focused. Getting a good start will be our main priority. The first three games will be crucial.

“The likes of Hamilton, Partick Thistle, Dundee United, St Johnstone and Glasgow will all still feel they can get promoted so these will all be really tough games and it is important we go into them with our confidence high. In this league any team is capable of beating anyone on their day, so teams will take points off each other. What is important though is that we just take care of what we can control and pick up as many points as possible.”

Scottish Building Society SWPL 2
AFC Women’s Fixtures:

06/06/21 Stirling Uni (H)
09/06/21 Queens Park (A)
13/06/21 Glasgow Women (H)
16/06/21 St Johnstone (A)
20/06/21 Hamilton (H)
23/06/21 Partick Thistle (H)
27/06/21 Dundee Utd (A)
04/07/21 Boroughmuir (H) – 4.00pm KO