Red Matchday Five | Preview

In this week’s redmatchday magazine:

The interview with the first team player this week in Zak Vyner:

“I was born in London and then moved to Bath when I was nine and around that time I signed for Bristol City. I have been with them all the way through. I went on loan when I was 18 or 19 to Accrington Stanley for six months. I then went back to Bristol City and stayed with them for the first part of the next season before going on loan to Plymouth. That was quite a successful spell there. Derek Adams was the manager and he messaged me before I came up to Aberdeen and congratulated me on the move and said it was a great place and I would enjoy it. He was amazing with me and was a great manager.

“I learnt a lot at the all the clubs I’ve been at so far and have played different roles. I know a lot of players have a favourite position, but for me, I will play in either central defence or at right-back, wherever the manager wants me to play. I will quite happily play centre-back one week and right-back the next.

“I came through the youth set up at Bristol playing as a central defender, and as many defenders who play that position, you then need to go to left-back or right-back to get your first taste of first team football. I got into the team as a right-back and that is the position that I stuck with for a while. But at Plymouth, I had a successful time at centre-half and started to enjoy that and then last season at Rotherham, I moved back over to right-back. I have mixed and matched and enjoy both.”

The Development Don featured is Jack MacKenzie, who spoke to Red Matchday after the Dons Reserve Cup win on Tuesday:

“We had quite a number of senior players in the side against Ross County, but I still went out and played my normal game, which included being vocal throughout. You can’t be afraid to communicate with them as we are all on the pitch together trying to do the same thing, win the game.

“I wore the captain’s armband on a number of occasions last season, so I do feel that I am one of the more senior players in the group and therefore I have to provide some leadership. For example, on Tuesday, in the second half I was playing alongside young centre-half Luke Turner. So throughout I was always speaking to him and making sure he was concentrating. You try and talk him through the game as best you can.”

The AFC Women’s interview by Mark Gordon is with Natasha Bruce.

Midfielder Natasha has been a regular in the side this term and has spent a decade with Aberdeen Ladies and now AFC Women.

“The general professionalism and access to things like a physio if and when you need it has been a really big help too. We’ve had a playing philosophy that we’ve aimed for right from the start and it maybe didn’t quite start off as we planned but we can use the video analysis, which is another big plus of the club being involved, that meant we could look at those early games and improve”.

Plus: The Manager, Joe Lewis, Andrew Considine, Craig Bryson and a Q&A with Ryan Hedges, first team and reserve team photos and our comprehensive history and stats sections.