Aberdeen Women forward Hannah Stewart hopes to keep her place in the team when the Dons host Hamilton Accies on Sunday.
Stewart was named in the starting XI for the fourth round Scottish Cup 2-0 win over Hutchison Vale last week, and assisted Mya Christie for the second goal.
It was her first start since October 2, which was against Glasgow City, with six out of her 10 appearances for Aberdeen, in all competitions, this season coming from the substitutes’ bench.
The experienced forward, who previously turned out for Aberdeen Ladies, Forfar Farmington and Glasgow City, believes getting the nod from interim coach Gavin Levey has helped boost her confidence ahead of the important SWPL 1 clash.
Stewart said: “I’ve been desperate to start for a long time – I probably hadn’t been getting the minutes that I wanted.
“The new coaches have come in and given me a chance. I just feel like the reins are off and I showed them what I could do – I think I did well (against Hutchison Vale).
“I’m a player who feeds off confidence and I needed that confidence, so hopefully I can cement my place in the team for the game against Hamilton.
“It’s a team I’ve played plenty of times before, so I know a lot about them. Hopefully, I can put in a good performance and get a goal or two, and go from there.”
Stewart hopes with more game time, she can build up a partnership with Aberdeen’s forward Bayley Hutchison, who also started in the Scottish Cup.
Stewart added: “We’re two quite different players, but I think we complement each other. We showed last week we can both drop in or turn and drive at players.
“Hopefully if we play together more then we get that relationship on the pitch. We link up well in training, so hopefully we can start taking that into matches,
“You need to be able to read each other’s games and constantly be speaking to each other and communicating, so hopefully we get more chances to build that partnership.”
Stewart feels Aberdeen Women’s confidence is on the up
A win over Hamilton Accies could see Aberdeen climb out of the SWPL 1 relegation zone for the first time since August and Stewart feels optimistic.
She explained: “We’re three games unbeaten now so that has brought some confidence and everything feels like it’s starting to click into place.
“Hamilton is a good game for us to put everything together and improve on the performance from the last game in the cup.
Not going to Hampden on Sunday?
Come along to the Balmoral Stadium to give us your support in our SWPL1 match with Hamilton Accies.
🎟️ // https://t.co/jpXAIg0UCC pic.twitter.com/iFgPGkLcrU
— Aberdeen FC Women (@AberdeenWomen) January 11, 2023
“It’s a chance for us to get another three points in the league – the league is so close that if we get a win we could climb two places up the table.
“When we’re together and in training, it doesn’t feel like we’re a team who are sitting second bottom in the league. We’ve got confidence that we’ll get those couple of good results and be back in amongst it.”