When Aberdeen Women captain Nadine Hanssen announced her pregnancy earlier this season manager Clint Lancaster passed the skipper’s armband on to Hannah Stewart. The striker was proud to take on her new role although she admits that she didn’t expect it.

“It was a huge honour when Clint asked me to be captain. We were all delighted for Nadine, Kelle and Romeo on their exciting news but on the other hand we were gutted to lose our captain. She has kept in touch and is at Cormack Park and games all the time, so I speak to her regularly if I need any advice. It was a surprise that Clint chose me to be captain, but I hope that I have done him proud by the way the team have performed.”

The team went into the seasonal split sitting in seventh position. Despite missing out on a top-half place, Hannah feels finishing top of the bottom half would represent a good season.

“If you look at where I was halfway through last season to where I am now is a huge difference. For someone to believe in me and have enough faith in me to make me captain is a massive boost for myself. I was nowhere near being in the team when I first arrived here, and I was coming back from an injury. I would get maybe five or ten minutes off the bench, and it was really difficult to make an impact in that time.

“The change of management meant that Gav Levey gave me more game time than I was previously getting. I like to think I took my chance under him and have went on from there. We have a few players on the edge of being in the starting line-up so hopefully they can look at my situation and take a bit of inspiration to hopefully break into the team and maybe become captain themselves at some point.”

The team went into the seasonal split sitting in seventh position. Despite missing out on a top-half place, Hannah feels finishing top of the bottom half would represent a good season.

“I had always thought of myself as an out-and-out striker, but I have loved the role Clint has asked me to play. He has changed the way that I play and has given me the freedom to go where I want on the pitch to get on the ball. I’ve also got Bayley Hutchison up front with me which is a big help and Darice Miller jut breaking through is a great young striker.

“It’s massive for me to keep playing and the issue I had with my knee meant that I can’t really stop playing without it getting worse. The confidence I’ve gained and the improved fitness of putting so many games together has been massive for me. It’s important mentally going into games to know that you have an important role and that you are valued by the team and its credit to Clint for making my feel like that.”

The team went into the seasonal split sitting in seventh position. Despite missing out on a top-half place, Hannah feels finishing top of the bottom half would represent a good season.

“If we went back to the start of the season and someone said we would be in seventh at the split I think we would have taken it. The aim was to stay in the league this season and I think we’ve done that now and we want to consolidate that seventh position. We were disappointed to miss out on the top six, but we are motivated for the remaining games to finish well and with as much points as possible.”

Stewart feels there is still plenty to play for in the remaining games as the further up the table they can finish, the better it reflects on the cub’s women’s team.

“Finishing higher up the league will hopefully raise out profile in terms of attracting players but also to persuade players that are already here to sign on again. The new players coming in in January have been massive for us.

“We were a bit light on numbers especially after our injury problems but the new players weren’t just in to make up numbers, they’ve all made an impact. Jen has slotted in well in goal and Adele has given us something different further up the field. Those two along with Keeley and Lois have also fitted in really well off the pitch. They’ve made a big impact in our games but also in becoming part of the squad.”

The captain takes pride in the fact that the squad at Aberdeen get on so well on and off the pitch. Hannah’s says that closeness amongst the group I important and it also makes her role as skipper easier.

“It’s important to be close off the pitch as a squad. Nadine still coming in to training and Laura Holden still being in all the time despite her injury shows that it’s a group that are together and that want to spend time with each other, That’s really important for injured players to remain part of things and also for young players coming in and feeling comfortable within the group.
I’ve been really luck in that respect as captain as I haven’t had any big problems to try a sort within the squad and their personalities are all really good as a group which I think shows in our results over the campaign.”