Aberdeen Women co-manager Gavin Beith says his side’s season won’t be defined by results against Rangers, after they lost 8-0 to the Glasgow side at Balmoral Stadium.
First-half goals from Lizzie Arnot (2), Rachel McLauchlan and Kathryn Hill gave Rangers a 4-0 lead at half-time, before four more from Arnot (2), Kirsty Howat and Dina Orschmann gave the current league champions a comfortable three points.
It was a tough afternoon for Aberdeen in their first home game of the season, where 329 fans were in attendance, but co-manager Beith believes there were positives to take despite the heavy scoreline.
He said: “It’s strange in a sense because you might sound a bit stupid after a score like that, but there are a lot of positives to take from that game today.
“We came up against a really strong side, who have improved a lot from last year: their relentless, their quality and fitness – you need to admire it.
“If we work hard and go in with that kind of desire – in other games, we’d come away with the three points. If we show that attitude that we did today, things will come good.
“Despite the result – because nobody wants to get beat 8-0 – our players are upbeat. Our season isn’t going to be defined by this result.
“Could we have done more to prevent them scoring one or two? Yeah, but we go now and learn from that. It’s a learning experience for us.”
A dominant display from the reigning league champions
Despite creating little in front of goal in the first 20 minutes, Rangers took the lead in the 24th minute as Brogan Hay beat Francesca Ogilvie down the right wing and squared the ball to Arnot in the box, who made it 1-0 from close range.
The Dons registered their first shot on target as Ogilvie had a go from 20 yards out, which was aided by a deflection off McLauchlan, but goalkeeper Victoria Esson was alert and gathered it comfortably.
Aberdeen’s best chance of the first-half came as Bayley Hutchison nicked the ball off midfielder Chelsea Cornet and burst forward beating Hill at centre-back to unleash a shot, but her effort hit the side-netting.
Right after that chance, McLauchlan doubled the away side’s advantage in the 34th minute, as she was in the right place at the right time to fire the ball in the net from a couple yards out after Arnot’s initial shot ricocheted off the bar.
Rangers’ skipper Hill made it 3-0 just two minutes before half-time as she was afforded the chance to shoot from inside the box after Meach punched the ball back into the danger area from a cross.
On the stroke of half-time, Rangers were awarded a penalty as Donna Paterson was judged to have brought down Kayla McCoy in the box. Arnot stepped up for the spotkick and sent Meach the wrong way to gave her side a 4-0 lead.
Rangers ruthless in front of goal
Aberdeen made one change at half-time as new signing Elena Karkkainen came on for her debut, as she replaced Chloe Gover in midfield. Rangers also made one change in the middle as Sam Kerr came on for Cornet.
The Glasgow side were awarded another penalty just before the hour mark as Karkkainen handled the ball in the box. Arnot made no mistake and scored from the spot for her hat-trick and to make it 5-0.
Arnot wasn’t done yet and she added another as she unleashed a curling effort from 20 yards out, which left Meach in the net and the fans in Balmoral Stadium stunned, as Rangers went ahead 6-0.
Rangers’ second-half substitute Howat got her name on the scoresheet after some poor defending from Aberdeen allowed her to get a shot away from inside the box, which she buried in the bottom corner.
Another substitute added to the goals as Rangers’ summer signing Orschmann scored her first top-flight goal as she netted her side’s eighth and final effort ten minutes before full-time.
Inverness start SWF Championship with a win
Inverness kicked off their SWF Championship campaign with a thrilling 5-4 home win over Glasgow side Rossvale.
The Caley Jags had to come from behind twice to pull level 2-2, before taking the lead 3-2 in the 47th minute.
The away side equalised 10 minutes later but Inverness regained the lead in the 70th minute as Rossvale were reduced to 10 players.
In a dramatic finish, Caley thistle secured all three points with an 89th minute winner from Natalie Bodiam.
In SWF League One, the new fourth tier, Westdyke started their campaign with a 4-2 away win over BSC Glasgow, while Grampian got beat 2-1 by St. Mirren in Paisley.