Aberdeen Women co-boss Gavin Beith was disappointed with his side’s “flat” performance as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Hearts in SWPL 1.
A 36th minute goal from Aimee Anderson was enough for the Jambos to take all three points with them back to Edinburgh.
In their first game in two weeks, Beith was left disappointed with the Dons’ display at Balmoral Stadium, which he felt lacked energy.
He said: “We were really poor from the get go, and never took any real control of the game, whatsoever.
“It was just flat and you could sense it. We’re normally a team who get on the front foot, create chances and get the crowd involved.
“But today, we never did enough to get anyone at Balmoral excited.
“It was just really flat and lacking energy, so it’s really disappointing.”
It was a good start from the Dons as they almost took an early lead, but it would wane throughout the half.
And Bayley Hutchison’s chance within the first five minutes, where she hit the side-netting, proved to be Aberdeen’s best and most creative chance in front of goal.
Hearts looked livelier and played some smart football, winning a freekick that Lia Tweedie got her head to and flicked the ball to Tegan Browning, whose volley soared over the bar.
But other than those two chances, there had been nothing else to threaten either goalkeeper, and the Dons were almost gifted a goal after a mix-up between goalkeeper Charlotte Parker-Smith and her defender saw the ball roll just wide of the post.
However, it wasn’t long until Hearts took the lead.
Erin Rennie was given far too much space in midfield and played Anderson through on goal, who calmly slotted the ball beyond Aaliyah-Jay Meach for 1-0 in the 36th minute.
A goal behind at the break
Aberdeen started the second half in a much more positive fashion than the first half ended, as Hutchison went close to equalising as she latched on to a spilled ball from the Hearts goalkeeper, but it was eventually cleared.
The Dons had decent spells with the ball, but lacked creativity and Emma Hunter and Beith’s side could not breakdown the Jambos backline.
Jess Broadrick and Loren Campbell resorted to long range efforts which proved wasteful as they didn’t trouble the Parker-Smith in the Hearts goal.
Despite Aberdeen having more possession, Eva Olid’s side had the better chances and went close to doubling their advantage.
Anderson almost got her second of the day, but hit the post, before Jenny Smith hit the crossbar after being played through by Holly Aitchison.
It might have been a better display from the Dons in the second half, but one that Beith says still wasn’t good enough.
He said: “It might look like a positive, because we did have more opportunities to deliver, to shoot and to play passes, but the quality was still lacking.
“We didn’t test the goalkeeper and she didn’t have anything of real difficulty to deal with – everything was just from distance or snap-shots.
“We had more possession, but Hearts looked pretty comfortable and we never looked like scoring, which is unlike us.”
SWF Championship North
In the penultimate weekend of Championship North, there were impressive wins for two of the three north teams in action.
Inverness Caley Thistle beat basement side Dundee City West 6-1, while Westdyke defeated north-east rivals Buchan 4-2 at Lawsondale.