Gavin Levey wants to see Aberdeen Women bounce back from their Dundee United disappointment when they travel to Glasgow City on Sunday.
The Dons are on the road in the fifth-round of the Scottish Cup this weekend, as they come up against the nine-time winners Glasgow City at Petershill Park.
It’ll be a tall order for Aberdeen, who go into the match following their disappointing 2-1 defeat to Dundee United on Wednesday night – which was their third loss in a row in SWPL 1.
However, Aberdeen interim coach Levey has urged the squad to focus on the Scottish Cup clash, rather than dwell on their recent run of results in the top-flight.
Levey said: “We have to go down there and see what happens. The last three games have been difficult, so we have to bounce back from those disappointments.
“It’s tough, but it’ll bring the group together and make us stronger, and we just have to move on to the next game against Glasgow City in the Scottish Cup.
“We said to the girls after the Dundee United game, that’s done now and we have to move on. We won’t have too much time to reflect on it anyway because our schedule recently has been relentless.
“We’ll just pick ourselves up and try to put on a really good performance – one to be proud of. We just have to keep trying our very best.”
Busy schedule has helped squad bond
The Scottish Cup clash will be Aberdeen’s fifth game in 15 days, which is a tough ask for a team whose squad are mostly unpaid and either work or study full-time outside of playing football.
Levey believes there have been positives to take from the busy run of games, but admits it has been difficult to prepare for the matches – three of which will have been against full-time professional sides in Glasgow – due to the quick turnover.
He said: “The schedule has been hectic, but I think it has brought the group together – I’ve certainly learned more about them over the last two weeks.
“We’ve learned from these different tests and challenges, and I wouldn’t say it’s a relief that the run of games is away to come to an end, but it’ll be nice to train properly.
“The biggest thing for me is that we’ve not had a chance to train. We’ve had training sessions, but they’ve mostly been preparing for the team we’re playing a couple days later.
“So, if our passing is off, or if there are specific things we’re wanting to work on, we’ve not really had the time to do that properly because of our hectic schedule.
“It’s about getting that balance of freshness and fitness, too – the girls need a rest and then we can get back to training, where we will work hard so we can get back to where we want to be.”
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