Aberdeen Women's captain Maddie Finnie previews Wednesday night’s rearranged game against The Spartans at Balmoral Stadium.

Kick-off in Cove is 7.45pm. Please note that tickets for the original fixture remain available for this match and there will also be a card payment turnstile available on the night.

An unplanned break

“The focus the last week has been looking at training and what we need to do better. We have an 11 v 11 game, which was really beneficial for us. A lot of looking back at training, looking at ourselves before we go and look at the opposition team, and that has been really beneficial, when you can point out things that we need to improve on, as well as things that we’re doing right and can build on.”

Room for improvement

“It’s then about the little details that we know we can get right. We just need to do that more consistently.

“I think the intensity we can play with can improve, definitely. Then it’s looking to build up the pitch and get the goals on a more regular basis. We know we’re not where we want to be in the league, and we haven’t done enough to get the results we want. We’ve been getting good spells in games, but just not consistently enough.

“It’s about improving consistency and doing the basics well. Errors come from that moment when you switch off or lack a bit of concentration. We need to be switched on at every moment. We can’t underestimate the basics.”

A weather interrupted week

“Obviously, it was frustrating with the game, first of all getting moved and then getting postponed because of the weather, but I do think it’s probably been beneficial for us. We get to reset, analyse ourselves, do that little bit of extra work, and we’ll be ready for Wednesday. It does give us a little bit more time to look at ourselves and sort out the little details we want to improve.”

Spartans under the lights

“I think a midweek game, at home, is something we haven’t had very often either, so it’s a nice change. Normally, we’re down the road, so it’s good to be at home midweek. I think we can use that to our advantage. Spartans are going to be coming up here, a long journey. We’re aware of that, and we need to take the game to them.

“We know what to expect from them. It’s always a challenging game between both sides. We need to prepare properly and not underestimate them. I think we need to focus on ourselves, limit our mistakes and do what we do best.

“It’s just about taking each game as it comes. We need to focus on Spartans, get the performance we need, the points we need, and then focus on the next game. There’s no point looking too far ahead. We just need to take it game by game, get the performances and hopefully get the results.

“We need to stay switched on for the full 95 minutes. We can’t switch off. It’s about sticking together and digging deep and getting points on the board.”

Sticking at it

“I think it’s really easy to look from the outside and say we’re getting no points and we’re stuck in this relegation battle. But if you watch the games, and you see the performances, it’s just that little winning edge or that little drop of concentration that we’re missing.

“If you come and watch us play rather than just looking from the outside, you can see that it’s not all negative. There are positive performances.

“Compared to the start of the season, I think we’ve built a lot. We’ve gelled a lot. It’s taken longer than we would have wanted but we didn’t really have a full team in until just before the Hearts game. We didn’t get a full pre-season. So yes, it’s taken longer to gel, but we are improving.

“Now it’s about getting results.”

Supporting the young Dons

“We know we’re a young team. The ones who have come in have done so well. It’s hard coming into that first team environment when there is a lot of pressure on getting results. Sometimes you need to remember that this is their first season of senior football, and we’re fighting to stay in this league.

“I think they’ve all done brilliantly, but sometimes you just need to put your arm around them and make sure they keep their confidence high. You don’t want them getting down in the dumps. They’re quality players, and if they lose that confidence, they won’t perform to their best.

“We need to let them be free, let them create, let make mistakes. They will learn from it. They just need to keep going.”