Gavin Levey believes Aberdeen Women’s performance in their 2-1 defeat to Dundee United was the “poorest” of his time in interim charge.
At a cold, wet and windy Balmoor Stadium, Dundee United went 1-0 up after 17 minutes when Tammy Harkin headed home at the back post following a corner.
United doubled their advantage in 55 minutes as Danni McGinley scored from a free-kick, although she was aided by a mistake from Dons goalkeeper Annalisa McCann.
Hannah Stewart pulled one back from the penalty spot for Aberdeen with minutes left on the clock, but it proved only to be a consolation.
The defeat against United drops Aberdeen down to 10th in SWPL 1, just one point clear of Hamilton Accies – who sit in the relegation play-off spot.
‘You can’t win a game of football if you don’t do the basics well’
Levey was less than impressed with his side’s display, which cost them what would have been a vital three points, as he said: “The performance was the most frustrating thing from that game.
“You can’t win a game of football if you don’t do the basics well, and unfortunately we didn’t – but Dundee United did.
“I’m disappointed with the outcome, but credit has to go to Dundee United because they came up here, cleared their lines, got behind one another and made it difficult for us.
“It comes from errors on our part. The performance, especially in the first-half, was probably the poorest we’ve had.
“Maybe the busy schedule has played a part, but I didn’t get that feeling from the girls.
“The girls came here confident tonight and in good spirits – they knew what was at stake.
“We’ve ended up in a dogfight and it’s taken us until the last 10 minutes to realise we were actually in a game, and we had to try and salvage points.”
A lacklustre display from the Dons
Aberdeen offered little response after going behind, with things not seeming to click in attack, and no red shirt able to connect with an inviting ball sent into the box by skipper Loren Campbell.
Francesca Ogilvie had a half-chance when the ball ricocheted off Donna Paterson and found its way to the striker’s feet, but she scooped her shot up and McNicoll collected it.
After the below-par display from the Dons during the first 45 minutes, especially going forward, it prompted Levey to bring striker Stewart on for Mya Christie at the interval.
There was more life to Aberdeen at the start of the second-half, but it was Dundee United who had the first opportunity to score, with Harkin sent clear through by ex-Don Johan Fraser, before scuffing her shot out wide.
The away side threatened again when their captain McGinley took the ball down to the byline before squaring to Harkin, whose shot was cleared off the line by Jess Broadrick.
But it was 2-0 in the 55th minute as United won a free-kick 20 yards out, which McGinley took and hit at straight at McCann, who read it wrong and bundled it into the back of the net.
Aberdeen’s fight to get points came too late
The Dons were awarded their penalty in the 88th minute after the referee penalised Claire Delworth for a handball, with Stewart stepping up to bury the spot-kick to make it 2-1.
Following the penalty incident, for which she was shown a yellow card, Delworth was sent off for United after knocking the ball out of an Aberdeen player’s hands as they went to take a throw.
Although Levey was glad to see a reaction from his side after Stewart pulled a goal back, he was still frustrated it took so long for Aberdeen to find much urgency in the game.
The interim coach said: “It’s frustrating – the game was just fizzling out for us, and yeah we get the penalty and step it up a bit, but we left it far too late to go and get something out of that game.
“It’s hard to put my finger on it.
“Ultimately, we’re all in it together and we all have to put our hands up when it goes wrong, including us coaches.
“The league table doesn’t lie and we know the three points against Dundee United would have helped us, but now it’s opened up a gap.”
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