Midfielder Natasha Bruce is one of the most experienced players in the current Aberdeen squad. The 27-year-old was part of the Aberdeen Ladies team that suffered back-to-back relegations prior to the club establishing Aberdeen FC Women.

“At the time it was hard to take and looking back now at that time, I think we feel we are back to where we should be. The club took over and it’s been a real transitional period so I think it was probably a good time for the club to come in and support us. The club have given us a great platform to build on in terms of players, backroom staff and facilities and I think it’s a great opportunity to be part of the club and develop a club philosophy which we’ve shown over the last few seasons.

“A lot of the girls had been here for that tough two seasons and we had a really good season where we built the team, going a full league season unbeaten is something which any team at any level would dream of doing so that really consolidated our confidence going into the following campaign”.

Natasha has been involved with Aberdeen for over decade and like most players, she started out at a young age.

“I got into playing football at a young age at school and started playing with the girl’s team at East End before making the transition across to Aberdeen Ladies. I’ve always been in and around the teams since then whether it was the reserves, then onto the Ladies first team and now Aberdeen FC Women so I’ve been here for ten or eleven years now”.

Last season’s SWPL2 league winning campaign would have been one of the most memorable of Bruce’s time in red as the season was disrupted by the pandemic lockdowns. That meant the players were forced off the pitch and the training field for extended periods which the squad helped each-other get through.

“I think it was tough but it was also rewarding in another sense as it drew us closer as a group. We had a lot of virtual group chats and we would set each other challenges to keep ourselves fit and engaged. We also had the twenty-four-hour run charity run that we did for the AFC Community Trust which gave us something else to focus on. We’re a competitive squad and we knew when we got back that we would all be competing for a place in the team and that competitive spirit kept us going through the lockdowns”.

Despite those interruptions the team went onto win a second consecutive league title to earn promotion to SWPL1. “When we came up, we knew it would be a different challenge and a lot of the younger players hadn’t played at that level before. We knew it would be the kind of league where the teams would all take points off each other and thankfully we got the points that I think we deserved and the promotion which was our aim at the start of the season”.

“It was so important for us to get back to the top division. It’s where the club should be and where the players deserve to be playing. We’ve got girls with aspirations of having football careers in the future and then there is the some of us who were here through the tough times and just wanted to get back to the top to prove ourselves. I think it means a lot to everyone for different reasons although when you’ve gone through the bad times, I think you appreciate the good times so much more”.

The season is in full swing now and Natasha feels the League Cup group before the SWPL1 kicked-off was great preparation for the year ahead.

“The league cup worked out well and we had set getting through the group as one of our objectives for the season so it was nice to tick that off early. We had games at different levels which helped us build up towards the league season. When you play against professional teams it’s always going to be tough but when we went to Rangers, I thought we did compete well with them. We just need to build on the positives of that and the Celtic game in terms of our performance and how we held our own against them”.

As one of the many players to have come through the ranks with Aberdeen Ladies, the hard-working midfielder feels it is important that more young players follow that pathway.

“Things have changed and women’s football is growing so much that it changes almost every month rather than every year. It’s great for the young players to have that possibility of a career now and it’s up to the older players to set good examples and be good role models to the younger ones as they come through. We have had a few of the young girls come into the squad this season already and some of them have played so that is great motivation to show the other young players that the first team is within their reach if they keep working hard”.

It is still early in the campaign but Bruce is already thankful for the support the team have received from the Red Army and hopes that they will keep attending the AFCW matches.

“We had a really good crowd at the Celtic game which was amazing to be honest. Hopefully we can replicate that in future games and grow a fanbase for the team. It helps a huge amount to have a crowd behind you. I played the last time when we were in the top division but we never had anything like that in terms of support. The last ten or fifteen minutes of the game you get a real boost from the crowd cheering you on and it van give you that little bit of extra energy you never knew you had”.