Aberdeen aim to impress in front of biggest audience of the season
Emma Hunter says Aberdeen want to put on a show for what will be their biggest audience of the season when they take on Boroughmuir Thistle on Sunday afternoon.
The Dons will lift the SWPL 2 trophy at full-time in their final match of the season.
And they will not only be playing in front of a crowd at the Balmoral Stadium with friends and family allowed in, but Aberdeen will be streaming their first game of the campaign to give the wider Dons support a chance to watch the women’s team.
“We have got people able to come in and watch so we want to make sure that we get a good result,” head coach Hunter told Anyone’s Game. “They don’t get to attend many games so we want to make sure that it’s a good game for them.
“Balmoral will be our new home ground for SWPL 1 so it’s great to finish off and get used to the facility there, and actually it will end our journey where our new journey is going to start.
“We are just absolutely delighted that some people will be able to come and watch.”
She added: “I think we have to respect the opponents again. I think Boroughmuir are a good team. They are a really young team and they have given a lot of teams problems this season, especially in the latter stages.
“They have really grown as a team so we need to be mindful that it is not going to be an easy one. We have to make sure we come into it with the right intensity to try and get the result.”
Aberdeen beat Glasgow Women 8-1 on Thursday to move 10 points clear at the top of the table, with promotion secured last weekend.
Eilidh Shore scored a hat-rick, Kelly Forrest netted her first of the season, while Bailley Collins and Bayley Hutchison grabbed doubles.
“I thought we played really well and it was an 8-1 performance,” said Hunter. “Even more important was the fact we played really nice football at times.
“I know Glasgow Women were maybe a bit more depleted in their squad and brought some younger players up, but the message was just to treat them with respect because they are actually a really good team. They tried to play football and obviously created a couple of chances.
“I was able to make a few changes and get people on and get minutes on. I think the people who came on were brilliant. Some of the younger players like Kirsten in goals got a debut then the two under 19s who have come up more recently got a lot of minutes and did fantastic so I am absolutely delighted.
“We have worked really hard the past two seasons to create a playing style and philosophy to make sure we do have an exciting style of football. A very attacking style of football and it is pleasing to see that you can put anyone into those positions and naturally see it happen.
“I think as well we learn from each other. These young players are learning from the experience of Loren (Campbell) and Kelly (Forrest) so that is what we have a really good balance of youth and experienced players which is great to see.”
Both Hutchison and Francesca Ogilvie have been battling to be top goalscorer all season, but it was a goal from the captain Forrest which really pleased Hunter.
She said: “It's about time Eilidh got a ball in the back of the net as she has had quite a lot of chances, but I think you could really see lots of unselfish performances.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Francesca and Bayley competing for top goalscorer but I think Francesca put the ball on a plate for Bayley three times which shows that we are just a team and at the end of the day as long as we are performing well, we can all have a joke about scoring.
“Again this is what this squad gives us that's so exciting. We are not relying on strikers to score all of our goals so I am really chuffed we are getting midfielders scoring, wide attacking players scoring, and a centre back scored. It’s about time for Kelly but she did say she was going to repay us after getting that sending off last week so she did that tonight.”