Aberdeen Women interim manager Gavin Levey is expecting another exciting contest when the Dons host Spartans in SWPL 1 on Sunday.
The last time the two sides met in December 2022 was Levey’s first game at the helm and he guided the Reds to an entertaining 1-1 draw at Balmoral Stadium.
Encounters with the Edinburgh side have often been close, with their head-to-head record currently standing at three draws, one Aberdeen win and two Spartans wins.
Levey hopes the Balmoral Stadium crowd will be treated to another thrilling match on Sunday as he recalled his first game in charge.
He said: “That game is where my appetite got whet. It was a bit of a cliffhanger finish and it was really exciting.
“I came away thinking every game would be like, but that’s not always been the case.
“We came away from it thinking we should’ve won and Spartans came away thinking they should’ve won it – and that’s a good sign of an entertaining game.
“We’re both teams who want to play with the ball on the deck most of the time.
“They’ve got a good blend of experience and youth and are an established team in this league because of (manager) Debbie McCulloch.
“I think they will be hurting because they never got top-six – which would’ve been their expectation – so now they’ll be doing all they can to finish at the top of this half of the table.
“I’m really excited about the game.
“Our goal is to catch up with Spartans in the table, so hopefully we can go one step extra this time and get all three points.”
Levey wants to see ‘satisfying’ performance
The Dons started the league split in the best possible way last week with three points against Glasgow Women, which moved them up to ninth in the table and five points clear of the relegation spot.
Levey says Aberdeen must back up that result this weekend with another big win.
He said: “The win sounds good – and it gives you a lift – but we have to make sure we keep going and continue to build on that.
“We know the teams in this half of the table can still hurt us, so we have to be realistic.
TABLES | Here’s the updated SWPL table ⬇️@CelticFCWomen earn a point right at the death 🤯@GlasgowCityFC are now 8️⃣ points clear of their nearest challengers 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xWw0y56bBv
— Scottish Women's Premier League (@SWPL) March 27, 2023
“We’ve analysed the Glasgow Women game and we saw that what we’re doing in training is being transferred on the pitch, which is really satisfying.
“So, whilst the win was the most important thing, the performance was really encouraging, which is what we want to see again against Spartans.”
Aberdeen Women v Spartans kicks off at 1pm at Balmoral Stadium. Entry is free for under-16s and £5 for all other supporters.
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