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Preview | AFC Women v Celtic Women

01 September 2021
Author AFC Media Team

 

The AFC Women’s manager Emma Hunter looks ahead to Sunday’s SWPL1 opener:

“We have been handed a really tough task for our top flight debut with the visit of last season’s runners-up Celtic.

“Fran Alonso’s team were really impressive last season so they will provide a really tough test for us today. They are fresh from competing in the Champions League so in terms of quality of opponent, that has been a great way to lead into the start of their domestic campaign. They got through their SWPL Cup group with wins over Partick Thistle and Hearts. Unfortunately, their final group game last Sunday against St Johnstone had to be cancelled due to a Covid issue within the Perth side.

“Celtic are not only a good side technically but they are also a very physical team. We will have to try and match that physicality today but I think we are prepared for that. They are difficult team to prepare for tactically and they have some new faces since last season so it can be hard to study them being as it is so early in the season.

“We have had a really positive start in going through from our group in the SWPL Cup. We looked at it as a chance to have a mini pre-season over the four games. It was one of our targets for the season to progress from the group so it was good to achieve that. In the first two games we beat two SWPL2 teams in Boroughmuir Thistle and Queens Park. The third game against Motherwell was our first chance to test ourselves against a team from SWPL1 and I felt the players raised their level of performance to win that. It was really good for confidence to win that game against a team from our league as it showed that we can compete at that level.

“It has been great to have some fans back watching the team in our previous two cup matches at the Balmoral Stadium. It can make a real difference for the players to have fans cheering them on and hopefully there will be a good crowd today. Last week we got a brilliant reception from the fans at Pittodrie when we paraded the SWPL2 trophy at half-time of the Ross County match. It was great that the club asked us to do that and we all enjoyed getting such a good reaction from the fans.”

RedTV | Emma Hunter interview please click here

Jessica Broadrick & Donna Paterson talk to Mark Gordon:

RedTV | Jessica Broadrick interview please click here
RedTV | Donna Paterson interview please click here

Loren Campbell

“The feeling coming into the game is one of real excitement. Our first game back in the league, live on BBC Alba, it could not get any bigger or better!

“It has been a long time coming. Although there was quite a short turn around from last season, we have had the League Cup games. All the girls are very much looking forward to it, especially as it is a home game to start with.

“It will be a very tough test. We have to give Celtic respect, they are a full-time side, but at the same time, we cannot be overawed. The only way to approach it is to be fearless. We played Rangers last week who are also now full-time and there were positives to take from that game. We had some good spells. There were certain aspects of the game where we were not as far away as we thought we might be against them. We know the standards we have to reach.”

The full interview with Loren is available in Sunday’s matchday programme. To order your copy please click here.

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