Aberdeen Women’s captain Loren Campbell believes their 8-0 defeat to Rangers is just another example of the disparity which exists between teams in SWPL 1.
The Dons were beaten heavily by the reigning league champions in their first home game of the season, but were content with their own performance in the face of the visitors’ international firepower.
Campbell and her teammates did what they could against the Glasgow side, one of the four full-time professional teams in the league, but couldn’t prevent a goal-scoring rout.
The Aberdeen skipper says it was always going to be a tough ask against Rangers, as her side are at a disadvantage before they even kick a ball.
The Reds have semi-professional players, but are not a semi-professional side as they only have five of their squad signed up on paid contracts.
She said: “It was always going to be tough against a professional team, but we were disappointed to go in 4-0 down at half-time – I don’t think we deserved that.
“The gulf in the league at the moment is really clear. Rangers are full-time professionals and have signed even more internationalists this summer.
“Our togetherness and shape was good, but they were just clinical. We just need to keep working hard and trying to close that gap as best we can as semi-professional players.”
Fitness of full-timers told
Campbell believes that the gulf between the teams became more clear as the game went on as Aberdeen struggled for fitness compared to Rangers.
The skipper added: “Rangers were relentless – they keep going down the wing and put ball after ball into the box, and one of those are bound to pay off.
“It’s hard to defend against them when they’re full-time professionals. It’s hard for us because when you concede goal after goal the heads do start to go down.
“We were unlucky to be 4-0 down at half-time, but in the second-half I’m afraid it was down to fitness and that’s why we found it difficult.”
A performance which would pick up points elsewhere
The Dons host Partick Thistle at Balmoral Stadium in their next SWPL 1 game, where they will be looking to get their first points on the board.
Campbell believes, if they put in the same performance like they did against Rangers against the Jags, they’d be in with a good chance of picking up three points.
She explained: “If we put on the same kind of disciplined, hard-working performance against Partick Thistle, then I’d like to think we’re coming out of it with three points.
“That’s the definition of the differences between the teams in this league.
“We thought we did well as a team. We kept our shape and were resilient, so we’ll be looking to do that again next week.”