Aberdeen Women manager Clint Lancaster has heaped praised on defender Aimee Black – who has penned a two-year semi-pro contract with the Dons.
The centre-back impressed in Aberdeen’s 3-2 win over Motherwell on the opening day of the SWPL season, which also happened to be her 17th birthday.
Her birthday present came in the form of a place in the starting XI – her first-ever start in the top-flight following four appearances from the bench last term.
After the game, Lancaster confirmed the talented prospect has signed a two-year paid deal with the club.
Black is the the ninth Aberdeen Women’s player to be offered a semi-pro deal, with Nadine Hanssen, Madison Finnie and new signing Laura Holden joining the quintet who made history as the club’s first paid female players last year.
Lancaster said: “Aimee has been outstanding and it’s why we’ve put her on a two-year contract recently.
“She is a fantastic player and someone that we want to really look after.
“She’s still very young and has a long way to go.
“She’s not the end product and there were mistakes made, but she will keep learning.
“The big thing is that she didn’t give up and kept her head up and had a very good game overall.”
Jess Broadrick takes on new role under Lancaster
Against Motherwell, Lancaster was also impressed with another youngster in his squad: 19-year-old Jess Broadrick.
He opted to move Broadrick – who has mainly been deployed as a centre-half over the last two seasons – higher up the pitch as a right wing-back.
And the Dons boss believes it is a position she could thrive in for Aberdeen, saying: “I wanted to get Jess a little bit higher up the pitch because the way we want to press – she can help us do that.
“She’s aggressive and can run for days.
“For me, the one thing I have seen from Jess is that she’s a good learner. She’s also a coach, so she understands the game very well.
“I felt like getting Jess higher up the pitch would be important against Motherwell and it proved a good decision because she worked really hard.”
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