Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Gavin Levey ‘buzzing’ as Aberdeen Women secure place in SWPL 1 next season with dramatic 1-0 win over Dundee United

A 92nd-minute Bayley Hutchison goal secured all three points and a place in the top-flight next season.

Aberdeen Women players and coaching staff after securing their place in SWPL 1 next season with a win over Dundee United. Image: Wullie Marr/DC Thomson.
Aberdeen Women players and coaching staff after securing their place in SWPL 1 next season with a win over Dundee United. Image: Wullie Marr/DC Thomson.

Gavin Levey was delighted with Aberdeen Women’s 1-0 win over Dundee United – a victory which secured the Dons’ place in SWPL 1 next season.

It looked like the Reds were going to be held to a 0-0 draw at Balmoral Stadium, but Bayley Hutchison netted a 92nd-minute winner to secure all three points.

The win means Aberdeen move seven points clear of 11th-placed Hamilton Accies, who occupy the relegation play-off spot with two games left to play, and are now five ahead of United in tenth.

Levey, who has been in interim charge since November, was delighted to secure the team’s place in the top-flight after a challenging campaign.

He said: “When I came in here, I never knew that the challenge of the league would be as hard as it has become.

“Even when you’ve managed to pick up points on the roads against the teams ahead of us, and you think it’s going to be valuable, other results don’t go your way and it can really change things.

“We’re all absolutely buzzing in there after the game.

“Even though this season has been up and down – with the change of management and everything else – it’s nights like this they’ll remember forever.

“If I’m honest, I don’t think we would have ever went down if had gone to a dreaded play-off – there’s far too much quality here.”

Aberdeen start strong but Dundee United react in second half

Against United, Levey made one change from Sunday’s 6-2 defeat to Spartans, with Mya Christie coming in for Bailley Collins, who dropped to the bench.

Meanwhile, captain Loren Campbell was making her last home appearance for Aberdeen after announcing her plans to retire at the end of the season.

Aberdeen were the brighter of the teams over the first 45 minutes and had decent chances to get an early opener.

Eilidh Shore had two headers off target, while Donna Paterson’s effort was cleared off the line by Neve Guthrie following a corner.

At the other end, Annalisa McCann denied Dundee United’s top goalscorer Danni McGinley, before making a decent stop to also deny Jade McLaren on the rebound.

In the second half, United were the first to go close as McLaren hit a floated effort from the edge of the box, but McCann was alert and did well to make the diving save.

Dundee United were the better side over most of the second period and Georgie Robb had a glorious chance to net the opener, but her curling strike was matched with a fantastic diving stop from McCann.

Bayley Hutchison scoring the winner over Dundee United. Image: Wullie Marr/DC Thomson.

There were a manic few minutes late on as Aberdeen started to pile on the pressure, with Madison Finnie denied by an outstretched Fiona McNicoll in the United goal, before Ogilvie saw her effort dip just over the bar.

In two previous meetings against Dundee United this season, Hutchison has scored late winners – and it’s what she did again when Shore played her through with a superb pass. The forward kept her composure and slotted the ball beyond goalie McNicoll to seal the victory.

Levey added: “Bayley has massive potential. You have to treat every player differently, but she’s one you have to push hard to keep going – but she’s shown tonight why she stays on the pitch.

“They were all on their last legs after doing so much running, but Bayley did so well to take her chance like she did at the end of the game and to have that composure.

“If she hadn’t been running the ball into the corner in the last few seconds, she probably could have gone and got a second goal!”

Conversation