Aberdeen Women will look to continue their fearless approach when they travel to Celtic in SWPL 1, says interim coach Gavin Levey.
The Dons travel to the Excelsior Stadium on Sunday to face Fran Alonso’s side, who sit seven places above Aberdeen in second in the top-flight after 16 games.
It is the Reds’ third SWPL 1 game in Glasgow in just seven days, having played Glasgow Women last weekend before a rescheduled trip against Rangers on Wednesday night.
The Rangers game ended in 4-1 defeat but Levey said it was Aberdeen’s best performance since he has been at the helm and praised the players’ valiant display.
And Levey wants the Dons to bring that same attitude against the Ghirls, as he knows it will be another tough test against a full-time professional outfit.
He said: “We’re playing without fear just now and there’s a lot of belief. We were buzzing after the Rangers game, despite the score – there’s just a good feeling about things right now.
“We’ve just go to go to Celtic and do what we know we can do and control what we can control. It’s our job to make sure that this is a positive environment which has belief.
“We’re playing different styles and it’s been a learning curve. There have been really good games and not so good games – Glasgow Women last Sunday was way below-par.
“To play Rangers on Wednesday on a huge pitch against top quality players, it was a great test for us and it was the reaction we wanted to see. Now, we just have to find that consistency.
“Celtic have a quality team, there’s no point us going down there and hiding behind that, so we will have to deal with that and play to our own strengths.
“Our strengths are we’re a team with loads of youth internationals who want to play with freedom and will be brave. They’re told it’s okay to make mistakes but to just go out and work their socks off against some of the best players at this level.”
Busy schedule won’t deter Aberdeen
The fixtures have come thick and fast for Aberdeen with the Celtic clash their third game in a week – which will be followed up with a Wednesday night meeting with Dundee United, before a trip to Glasgow City in the cup on February 12.
But, Levey says, the condensed schedule has not affected morale amongst the players with the coaching staff also doing everything they can to ensure the squad’s welfare.
🗓️ Here is how our Feb shapes up.#StandFree | @AberdeenFC pic.twitter.com/WW1bgFj6dq
— Aberdeen FC Women (@AberdeenWomen) February 1, 2023
He said: “I spoke to the league to try and come up with solutions but that didn’t get us anywhere. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do – and that is flip it and it into the fighting spirit that we need.
“It’s my job to make sure this environment is us knowing we’re not going to bow down. There are girls swapping work shifts to make sure they can be at the games.
“And that’s credit to them because I’m sure it would be quite easy to say they can’t play because of work. We’ve just got to go again, the players are willing to make those sacrifices to play for Aberdeen.”
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