Aberdeen Women midfielder Bailley Collins is hoping to cement her place in the Dons’ starting XI after working hard to improve her game.
Collins has started in the opening three games of the SWPL 1 season, scoring goals against Hamilton Accies – a strike from 30 yards out – and Partick Thistle.
During the summer break, the 19-year-old took it upon herself to improve her game, and has reaped her reward so far with impressive performances down the wing.
She is hoping to keep her place within the starting lineup over the course of the season, while continuing to work hard to ensure good performances on the pitch.
Collins explained: “I feel like my confidence has been given a boost since last season. Throughout the break, I worked hard and pushed myself to get better.
“I think that’s showing in my performances this season. I’m in the starting XI more and I’m scoring goals. I’ve already scored more than I did last year.
“I feel like I’ve kicked on a lot from last season, individually, and I want to just keep getting better. My aim is to be starting games, more often than I’m not.”
The winger has scored two of Aberdeen’s three goals this season, and hopes that she can add to that tally as the league games continue.
She added: “I definitely want to score more even more goals this season. It’s not all about goals for me, but it shows that you’re contributing to the team in different ways.
“It’s something that I’ll look to do more often this season.”
A challenging start to the season
Collins admits that it’s not been the best start to the Dons’ 2022-23 top-flight campaign, as they have just one point from their opening three games.
However, she reckons the best is still to come from Aberdeen as they look to get back to the form that helped them secure a mid-table finish last year.
She said: “It’s been challenging, but we knew it was going to be. We set the bar really high last season and finished fifth in the table.
“We knew it was going to be tough to keep up with that standard, so although it’s been a tough start – it’s not going to keep us down.
“We’re still working hard and we will improve. We’ll get where we want to be if we keep going and working as a team.”
⏩ Next up.
This Sunday we travel to Petershill Park to take on Glasgow City. Kick off is 1pm. pic.twitter.com/4YMO55lCE9
— Aberdeen FC Women (@AberdeenWomen) August 23, 2022
The Dons travel to Glasgow City on Sunday where Collins knows it will be a tough ask against one of SWPL 1’s full-time professional teams.
She said: “It’s always a difficult game against Glasgow City. They’re a professional team, but at the end of the day, that’s who you want to be playing against.
“They’re the teams you learn from. As a player, I take away a lot from those kind of games against the top-three.
“It will be challenging for us as a team, but as long as we work hard then we’ll try and get something positive out of the game.”