Title-winning captain Kelly Forrest insists Aberdeen FC Women are ready for anything after enduring a season like no other.
The Dons defender has played a key role in leading her club up through the ranks in the last two seasons and a new challenge awaits in SWPL1 next season.
Forrest believes having navigated playing at a higher level in a stop-start campaign due to Covid ensures her side is ready for anything in the top tier.
The Dons skipper said: “It’s unbelievable, I don’t think it has really hit home. It’s a bit of a relief too as it has been an incredibly long year. No-one expected back-to-back promotions from us so we’re delighted.
“Covid has made this an 18-month season. We stopped for such a long period of time in SWPL2 and, despite doing numerous pre-seasons, the girls have been fantastic and we’ve remained consistent.
“This year has been a huge challenge as a team. Coming up to this league anyway was a challenge and there are a few people in the team who have had a really tough year and I think it is testament to us as a team that we’ve done it.
“We have always been succession planning. To win this league by 10 points is incredible considering the talented teams in this league and the challenging teams we’ve come up against us.
“I feel we’re in a good place to go up and challenge with this team and we don’t want to be just another team in there. We want to compete.”
Little rest for league champions
The Dons women have little time to dwell on their title win, however, as they will return for pre-season training later this month to prepare for top-flight football.
Mercifully, given the sharpness of the team and the quick turnaround, Forrest is not facing another pre-season training regime.
She said: “We get two weeks and then we’re back in. I’m not sure when the season starts, but early August is the chat.
“It’s exciting. SWPL1 is a really exciting league and I’ve watched quite a lot of it, especially when we couldn’t play, so I’m buzzing to get involved.”
Aberdeen were not at their sparkling best, but came from behind twice before winning the game with two goals in two minutes.
Alexa, show me some premium @SWPL twitter patter. Thans very much @AberdeenFC pic.twitter.com/09pjyQGfyZ
— Boroughmuir Thistle (@BTFC07) July 4, 2021
Forrest said: “It was unbelievable to have people here to support us and that makes it even more special. Our friends and family have supported us throughout this season and a lot of the young girls have parents who have driven around the country for them, so it’s great to share the moment with them.
“It wasn’t our best performance, but we’ve had a few sticky moments this season and it shows our resilience to come back and win the game. That’s what mattered – we didn’t want to go out with a loss.
“Give credit to Boroughmuir, they were really sticky, but we fought back to win. There is always faith and belief in our style of football. Our fitness overran them in the end.
“It was the first time we have played at Balmoral, but we’ll be here next season so it was nice to get a wee taster.”