Aberdeen FC Women signed off for their winter break with a 5-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. The win kept the Dons seven points clear at the top of SWPL2 and co-Managers Stuart Bathgate and Emma Hunter reflected on that win and the season so far.
Stuart Bathgate, “It was a good way to finish in terms of getting that run of away fixtures done and dusted. The performance was really good, not just scoring goals but getting another clean sheet, which I think gets over looked sometimes. Since the Partick Thistle game we’ve had three clean sheets on the spin which is really positive for everyone. We dominated the game without creating too many chances in the first half other than the goal we scored then as things opened up in the second half the girls were clinical in taking their chances”
The five-week winter break comes with the Dons in good form but the time without a match shouldn’t have a negative effect on the league leaders according to Emma Hunter. “I think it’s difficult to tell until we get back to playing games and we can assess it. I think for me lockdown was a long break and I trust the players. That relationship and trust we have with them showed during lockdown when they kept themselves fit. You could see that when they came back as they looked sharp, so I’m not worried about that side of the break. I think it’s been a really challenging year and we’ve travelled a lot and under the Covid restrictions and that has been more difficult. I think having that break will be a good chance to re-charge the batteries and come back even stronger”.
The season kicked off with a home match against Dundee United which the reds won deep in stoppage time, fighting back from 3-1 to win 4-3. Bathgate feels that was an important moment early in the campaign. “I don’t think we can really overstate the importance of that first game to be honest with you. I thought we dominated large parts despite finding ourselves three-one down and when you look back at it, the fact the girls dug deep and Eva scored late on to win it, you saw how much it meant to everyone and it really has been a catalyst for things. Aside from one result where we didn’t perform, everything stems back to that United game and we know the level we need to play at. We know it’s a tough league and to keep that momentum going for as long as we have is brilliant. I do believe it stems back to that win, that ability to dig in and fight, it all comes from that for me”.
Hunter agrees that the win over United was an early catalyst for a good run of form. “The way we came back to get that victory gave all the players a real high and when you look back at the pictures from that game you can see the joy in their faces and how it brought them together. It wasn’t just the win but it was the fact it was against Dundee United and we knew they would be a team at the top end of the table. The fact the result came against them made it even more important to us as well”.
The one blip in the season so far came at Partick Thistle where the Dons dropped their only points of the season in a 5-1 defeat. The response to that setback pleased Stuart. “The word we used the whole of the following week was ‘reaction’. We wanted them to give us a response and reaction to getting beat and these things happen in football. Sometimes you get bad days like that and it’s how you come out of it and respond that’s important. They responded on the training pitch and the next game was against Kilmarnock and they executed everything that we spoke about during the week so the defeat is forgotten other than keeping in mind the lessons that we learned from it”.
The league-leading Dons have hit the net no less than 43 times in their opening 10 league matches, something which pleases Emma. “I think it is a credit to our style of play. It’s something that we’ve worked on since day one of taking them on as a club, we wanted to be an attacking team. We’ve worked really hard on the transitions that allow players to move forward and have the freedom and trust in your team mates that some will cover to allow you push on. I think it shows there is a lot of freedom and we want it to continue because we are a real attacking threat and it shows the style of football that we play and the players are doing it with confidence”.
Aberdeen finished the first round of fixtures with a run of away matches, something which Hunter says is no problem for her players. “Anyone who has played for Aberdeen gets used to the traveling. The likes of Loren Campbell and Kelly Forrest have played fifteen plus years and have done the travelling week-in week-out, year-in year-out. They’ve travelled every other Sunday for years to play away fixtures. There are added difficulties around Covid but I think travelling has advantages as well. You spend a lot of time together on the bus and it can be a time where a lot of discussions happen and it can build relationships as the team get an opportunity to spend time together, which can be hard at times. So, I think the travelling can actually be an advantage in terms of togetherness although it’s obviously not so easy just now with the Covid restrictions on how we travel”.
Bathgate is looking forward to getting going again in January although he warned that being at the top of the table at this stage isn’t overly important. “If you had offered us the stat of the season that we have had then we would probably have snapped your hand off for it. The league table doesn’t really matter until April frankly, we need to keep doing what we’re doing, working hard and ensuring that we take each game as it comes and go out and perform to the best of our ability. We trust the players to do their work and they know as well as we do that although we have targets, we’re only ten games in to a twenty-seven-game season so there is a long way to go.
We’ve had that run of away games but now it flips around when we get back and it’ll be great to get a few games at home. We’ve played well in the home fixtures and we train and play on the same pitch which is a big advantage to the style of play that we want to deploy. It’s a boost to start off at home after the break and it’ll give us an opportunity to try and pick up where we left off and set down that marker again”.
Hunter warned that the opposition will get stronger as the season goes on. “When you’re top of the league most teams want to beat you. Hamilton are right up there now and Partick had a blip after beating us but they’re back winning again. Dundee United are on a good run and they’ll know how close they came to beating us, so we’ve got some massive games coming up and it is critical that we focus on each game as they come”.
The togetherness of the squad has been a feature so far and both Bathgate and Hunter spoke to the strength of the group. Stuart said, “The results show their attitude and togetherness. There has been no sulking, they are all aware of what the end goal is and they are all pulling for each other and are there for each other. You can see that with some of the goal celebrations, you can see how delighted they’re for each other and that makes life easier for Emma and I”.
Emma finished off by adding, “It can be difficult giving players the minutes they deserve at times. I’ve been impressed with the attitudes in terms of that. Those that have been called upon to come in have performed really well and people have adjusted their positions as well. I’m really proud of how the team have adapted and been there for each other and they’ve shown real character. We talk about that ‘one team’ mantra but they really have shown that over the first part of the season”.
