AFC Women manager Scott Booth shared his thoughts at full-time after Aberdeen Women lost 6-0 at Hearts on Sunday afternoon.
“I felt like in the first half we were undone by a couple of situations really that you would hope, against Hearts, wouldn’t be the ones that undo you.
“We’ve talked a lot this season about making those individual errors that really cost you. If you look at the corner we lose the first goal from, you kind of think that if you’re going to get undone against a team like Hearts, it’ll be from great movement in open play. We’ve actually been really strong from set plays recently, but we allow a player to get a completely free header and that’s cost us.
“That comes around 20 minutes, and at that point it’s still 0-0. They’ve got a lot of possession, which we knew would be the case, but it’s really frustrating to lose your first goal in that way.
“We’ve got a small number of games left this season and not that many once the split happens. I wanted to get Brodie and Naomi game time as quickly as possible and assess them. Both are here until the end of the season and it’s important they play.
“There’s also been a lot of minutes in Eva’s legs. She’s started every game and played probably the most outfield minutes of anyone. With Naomi, it was important she got a feel for the game in Scotland as early as possible. It was always my intention to play them 45 minutes and then bring fresh legs on.
“You learn a lot putting players into difficult matches. Both Brodie and Naomi want the ball, but the hardest part for them is the work you have to do off it. It was a bit of an awakening to see how difficult it is when the opposition are as clever in possession as Hearts are.
“There were spells where we battled, won the ball back, but didn’t keep it as well as we should. That’s been a feature for us and we need to keep it better, especially against the better sides.
“The most frustrating thing for me in the second half is the first goal. It’s something we’ve worked on, the way we set up to stop Hearts finding that overload, but we didn’t deal with it correctly. If you don’t get it right in this league, if you’re not organised, disciplined, tracking runners and doing your job within your unit, you get punished.
“Against Hearts, against any top-five team, they will make you pay. We conceded rapid-fire goals, which allowed them to relax and play without pressure.
“We’ve known all season the teams around us are our bread and butter, but that doesn’t mean you just turn up and win. If you don’t play at your very best, those games are tough.
“It’s clear the top five are well ahead in terms of squad quality. Anyone watching today can see how good Hearts are and how many ways they can hurt you. That’s what makes all the top teams difficult, they’ve got players who can change games.
“For us, we have to be right at it every week and make no mistakes. If you make individual errors, it costs you, and we’ve seen that again today. The important thing now is the mentality that every game is winnable, especially against the teams around us, but that only happens if you go out and actually do it.”
