A first half flurry of goals proved costly for Aberdeen Women as they were beaten 5-0 by Glasgow City at Glebe Park in Brechin.
Aoife Colvill opened the scoring in the 11th minute after her initial shot was well saved by Gail Gilmour. The subsequent rebound was gathered by City’s Cailin Michie before finding Colvill who fired the ball into the net at Gilmour’s near post.
Glasgow City doubled their advantage four minutes later as Colvill whipped a free kick into the box from the left hand side where Niamh Farelly was waiting to guide the ball into the goal for 2-0.
It was 3-0 only minutes later as Vital Kats made the most of some poor defending from the Dons and slotted the ball into bottom corner from the centre of the box.
Agata Filipa scored Glasgow City’s fourth of the evening on the half hour mark with a superb finish. She swung the ball in from the left hand inside which was no doubt intended as a cross, but the ball cleared everyone in the box including Gilmour in the net, and dropped into the bottom right corner.
📺 | 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭?️⚽️
Half time debate at Glebe Park… Cross or shot for @AgataFilipa's first City league goal? 🤔 #TheyAllCount pic.twitter.com/Clm93GIJz0
— Glasgow City FC | #OCAC 🧡🖤 (@GlasgowCityFC) November 3, 2021
Kats made it 5-0 just before half time, hitting a perfectly placed free kick over the wall before it dipped into the bottom corner beyond the outstretched Gilmour in the Aberdeen net.
As expected, Glasgow City dominated throughout the first half with Aberdeen barely getting any opportunity to string a series of passes together.
There were glimmers of a tactical game plan mainly spearheaded by midfielder Eva Thomson and captain Loren Campbell, but Glasgow City’s ability to immediately close down any threat limited the Dons to only a few forward runs.
The second half would’ve been a frightening prospect for the Dons with City having almost as much experience on their bench as they did on the pitch.
However, Aberdeen started the second half on the front foot with the ball seeing more of Glasgow City’s half than it had in the entire opening 45 minutes.
Bailley Collins tried her luck from 25 yards out after a slack Lee Alexander pass fell to her feet, but her shot was saved, albeit nervously, with Thomson doing well to put pressure on the Scotland number one.
The Dons looked more like their defensive selves in the second half with centre halves Amy Strath and Jessica Broadrick making vital blocks to prevent second half substitutes Mya Bates, Lauren Davidson and Priscila Chinchilla from getting on the scoresheet.
Aberdeen’s own second half substitutes had an impact with Bayley Hutchison doing well to frustrate the Glasgow City defence, playing them at their own game and giving them little time on the ball.
Despite their improved second half display, the Dons couldn’t break down the reigning SWPL 1 champions and left Glebe Park without as little as a deserved consolation goal.
Aberdeen co-boss Gavin Beith believes his side’s second half performance is perfect proof of what they’re capable of.
Speaking after the game, he said: “Although you never want to go into halftime 5-0 down, you’ve got to be incredibly proud of them at how they came out in the second half.
“We imposed ourselves much better in the second half, it was great. Everyone was working really hard. It’s not often that you hear a team coming off after a 5-0 defeat chirpy, but they’re happy because they recognise how hard they worked for each other in that second half.
“At halftime, we spoke about can we keep it 5-0 for 15 minutes and take it stage by stage from there. From there we could see the confidence, the work ethic and the desire.”