Aberdeen Women host the Hibees at Balmoral in the sides’ third meeting of the season, and co-boss Emma Hunter is confident her side can pull off a good result.
She is hoping it will be third time lucky as the last two meetings between the sides have both ended in Hibs’ favour, but only by slim margins.
In their first SWPL 1 meeting back in October, Hibs won 1-0, and followed that up with a 2-0 win just two weeks later as they dumped the Dons out of the SWPL Cup at the quarter-final stage.
However, Hunter feels ther side are now in a better place to take points against the top flight’s fourth-placed side.
She said: “We’ve got a bit of momentum with the two back-to-back wins and scored quite a few goals so that’s brought a bit of confidence and a spring in our step.
“This game is a good opportunity for us because we’re back home and have a decent run of games at Balmoral, so we’re looking forward to it.
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“Hibs are a really good team and we’ve got a lot of respect for them, but at the same time the last two games against them there’s not been much in it and we’ve not conceded a lot of goals.
“And equally I think we’ve got a little bit more strength in terms of our firepower as well, so I’m actually really confident that we can get something out of it.
“We know Hibs are struggling a wee bit in terms of injuries and only had four on the bench in their game against St Johnstone, so maybe it’s an opportunity for us to have a go at them this time.”
Good decision-making will be key
While she might be feeling confident, Hunter knows Aberdeen still need to do their talking on the pitch and put in a top-drawer performance against Dean Gibson’s side.
The co-boss believes that if they are to have any success from the game, the Dons must put in a good defensive shift to thwart any threat from the Hibees.
“We need the energy to defend and doing so out of possession is more important than in possession sometimes in SWPL 1,” Hunter explained.
“Defensively we need to be compact. We’ve not been happy with some of the goals we’ve conceded this season, so we still always need to work on that.
“We need that energy and need to be hungry for those first and second balls. It seems silly to say it, but intelligence is so important and your decision making, especially out of possession, needs to be right.”
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Goals haven’t been an issue as of late for Aberdeen, having scored 10 in their last three games, but Hunter knows clear-cut opportunities might be more difficult to come by against a top side like Hibs.
She added: “We need to take our chances and hit them on the break, that’s something always been really good at – hitting teams on the counter attack.
“If we can absorb a lot of pressure and hit them on the counter, I think that’s something we can get a lot of success out of.”
Aberdeen Women v Hibernian kicks off at 4pm at Balmoral Stadium.