Aberdeen Women’s Scottish Cup third round tie against Glasgow Women has been postponed due to Covid cases and injuries affecting the availability of players.
The Dons made the request to SWF to postpone the game as they only had a depleted squad of 12 players for the tie – with at least eight missing due to Covid or injury.
The postponement comes as Covid cases continue to surge, with a further 16,103 recorded in Scotland yesterday.
Players who have tested positive and others who are self-isolating have not been the result of an outbreak within the club, as the squad have not been together since before Christmas.
Aberdeen chose not to train between Christmas and New Year to eliminate the risk of infection amongst the squad, but knew there might still be a risk that fixtures could be affected upon their return due to the rapid spread of Omicron.
🔴 Our #ScottishWCup match with @GlasgowGWFC this Sunday has been postponed.
🗓️ Details of the rescheduled fixture will be announced soon. https://t.co/FdoQTx1VHi
— Aberdeen FC Women (@AberdeenWomen) January 6, 2022
Co-manager Gavin Beith said: “The rates with Covid and Omicron, we knew people were going to be doing more and we didn’t really want to have them in together because you might run the risk of spreading infection, so we decided to have the time off.
“I think every club will be expecting this to happen at some point, you know it’s there and you’re definitely going to be affected by it.
“Especially over this period where things have opened up a lot more and before the Christmas break people were a bit more cautious what they were doing, but at Christmas time you’re mixing more and doing a lot more.”
Safe, but cautious approach
While he hopes that the Dons’ season will be interrupted by Covid as little as possible, Beith admits that despite having measures in place at the club, concerns over the virus will still be there.
He added: “When we’re together we’re as safe as houses, we do as much as we can. We test every time we’re together. We’re outside and when we travel on the bus there’s a seating plan in place and we distance within that.
“This new variant is spreading like wildfire and you can do everything you can to try and stop it and still fail.
“It’s a hard thing to try and control, but it’s just one of those things we have to deal with right now.”
Aberdeen’s fixture is not the only tie to be affected, as St. Johnstone’s clash with Hibernian has also been postponed.