Aberdeen Women must go out and enjoy their football when they return to action following the festive break, says defender Jess Broadrick.
The Dons begin their Scottish Cup campaign on Sunday, when they host SWF Championship side Hutchison Vale in the fourth round.
It is Aberdeen’s first game since a 1-1 SWPL1 draw with Spartans more than a month ago – with their final game of 2022, against Rangers, postponed due to the icy weather.
While she plans to savour being back on the Balmoral Stadium turf, Broadrick also thinks cup progress would boost the Dons Women amid what has been a frustrating league campaign thus far.
She said: “It’s a good opportunity for us to go out there and just play our football and enjoy it. We’ve not had a game in a while, so it’ll be nice to remember that feeling.
“Like every game – because they’re all important- our focus is totally set on the match. We’re quite a young squad, so we have that fire in our bellies to go out there and win every game we possibly can.
“We’ve been frustrated with some of the results this season, but we just need to stick together now and work through things – if we go out and enjoy it, then we shouldn’t have an issue.
“We need to have the confidence and belief in ourselves, too, and if we have that on Sunday, then it gives us a really good opportunity to go out and get a good result.”
Cup achievements would be ‘added bonus’ as Dons’ focus is on SWPL 1
The Scottish Cup, Broadrick says, is an exciting competition to play in, but she insists Aberdeen’s priority remains SWPL1 – where they currently sit second bottom with eight points.
She said: “Every game, whether it’s in the league or the cup, we all have that pride in wearing the bridge, and there is a lot of outside excitement with the Scottish Cup.
“We back ourselves in every game and the cup is always exciting to play in.
“Our main objective is to focus on the league and then anything we do in the cup is a major achievement and an added bonus.”
Following this weekend’s cup outing, Aberdeen return to league action with two home games, hosting Hamilton Accies and Hearts, before their first away game of the year against Glasgow Women.
Broadrick added: “We’ve got a good run of games coming up, and that starts with the cup and then we go back into the league, so it’s going to be a really important time for us.
“We want to show a good representation of ourselves every game we play in, and we’ve got a really good team of coaches here who are helping us prepare and focus for them.”
Conversation