Gavin Levey believes Aberdeen Women’s young players will learn a lot from their 7-0 defeat to SWPL 1 heavyweights Glasgow City.
At Balmoral Stadium, Aberdeen found themselves 5-0 down at half-time after a 20-minute blitz from league leaders Glasgow City.
Jenna Clark opened the scoring on 28 minutes before Kinga Kozak added two more in quick succession, while Lauren Davidson also netted a brace with one of her goals coming from the spot on the stroke of half-time.
Glasgow City added a sixth on 56th minutes as substitute Priscilla Chinchilla scored with a fine curling effort, before Clark added their seventh of the day with a close-range header.
Against the 15-time league champions, the average age of the Dons’ starting XI was just 19 years old, with only defender Nadine Hanssen aged over 21.
Levey believes that while the result and scoreline is disappointing, it was another opportunity for his young squad to test themselves against the best and learn from their mistakes.
He said: “We were right in the game, competed really well and a had a couple of chances in the first half hour that could’ve changed the game.
“We didn’t take them and then we have a crazy 16/17 minute spell where we lose five goals – and you’re never going to come back from that.
“This happens with young players. If you’ve got a few more experienced players within the team, you can try and contain it, but they are young and this will be a big learning curve for them.
“The girls will get a heck of a lot out of the game, despite the scoreline. When they’re 20 or 21, they’ll have 100 games under their belt against opposition like this.
“You only realise how good you are as a player if you test yourself against the ones above you, and at Aberdeen right now we have that opportunity.”
Aberdeen trail by five after first half
Early on in the game, Aberdeen had a chance to latch onto a City mistake but Bailley Collins scuffed her shot and the away side recovered.
Following tame efforts from City’s Anna Oscarsson and Davidson, the Dons had the best chance so far as they hit Leanne Ross’ side on the counter-attack as Eva Thomson launched the ball forward to find Bayley Hutchison.
Hutchison outmuscled Megan Foley before unleashing a curling effort that Glasgow City keeper Erin Clachers had to force over the bar.
Glasgow City took the lead after 28 minutes when Clark tapped the ball in at the back post from Mairead Fulton’s corner, before Kozak finished off a good move that saw Davidson square the ball straight to the Polish international’s feet.
Aberdeen found themselves 3-0 down when Kozak got her second just minutes after her first, after a mix up at the back gifted the forward possession and she made no mistake from close range.
Davidson, who returned to club duty after scoring her first Scotland goal last week, added a fourth with another at the back post, before getting her second and City’s fifth from the spot as referee Joel Kennedy determined Nadine Hanssen handled the ball.
City had their sixth after 56 minutes as Costa Rica international Chinchilla hit a curling effort beyond Annalisa McCann to finish off some slick football, before Clark got her second with a header that bounced off the bar and went in from barely a yard out.
Defeat won’t dampen spirits for long
Following the 7-0 defeat, Aberdeen return to SWPL 1 action on Wednesday night against Hibernian, but Levey doesn’t believe spirits will be dampened for the clash at Meadowbank.
He said: “I don’t think it will be a difficult job to lift their spirits. We need to take segments of the games against the top teams and appreciate where we’re improving.
“We created more chances against Glasgow City than we have done before. We just conceded goals at the wrong time, and if you have more experienced players we could have settled things down a bit.
“But I have no doubt in my mind that the girls will be fine for Hibs.
“If we had lost 10-0 or 11-0 against Glasgow City then maybe, but we came out in the second half and kept the score down, so we’ll take the positives from that.”
The other north results
In the SWF Championship, Caley Thistle Women pulled off a second-half comeback as they beat Rossvale 3-2. Karen Mason’s side found themselves 2-1 down by the 54th minute but came away with all three points at Petershill Park.
The spoils were shared in SWF League One’s north-east derby as it finished 2-2 between Westdyke and Grampian at Spain Park.
In Biffa SWFL North, Huntly beat Stonehaven 3-2, while Dyce picked up their first away win of the season with a 4-3 victory against Inverurie Locos at Harlaw Park.
Buchan picked up a point following a high-scoring 5-5 draw with Dryburgh Athletic, while Westdyke Thistle are now the only team in the league without any points following their 4-2 defeat to East Fife.
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