Aberdeen Women boss Clint Lancaster is out to beat a familiar face when his side travel to Rangers on Sunday.
Lancaster and Rangers boss Jo Potter both moved from England to join their respective clubs in summer, and will meet for the first time in the SWPL at Broadwood Stadium.
It won’t be the first time the coaches have met – with Lancaster and Potter completing the League Managers Association diploma together, while both were on the touchline in the FA Women’s Championship in recent seasons.
Potter was previously a coach at Coventry United and Birmingham City, and racked up 35 England caps during an illustrious playing career.
And the Dons boss, who was previously manager at Watford and coach at Crystal Palace, is hoping to claim bragging rights against his Rangers counterpart.
Lancaster said: “I was recently on a course with Jo. I know her relatively well and I’ve come up against her before when she was a coach at Coventry United.
“I get on well with Jo. She’s a huge name in women’s football and a big personality, but I want to beat her – and she will want to beat me.
“When the 90 minutes start, it’ll be nice to see her – but all the niceties will stop after that first whistle.”
Lancaster unfazed by full-time SWPL opposition
The clash with Rangers will be Lancaster’s first taste of taking on one of the SWPL‘s professional outfits – but coming up against a full-time side as a part-time team is not unfamiliar territory for him.
Lancaster said: “I had it during my time at Watford.
“Liverpool won the Championship at the time and they were full-time.
“A lot of the clubs were full-time in that league or worked in a hybrid model, and we were part-time and trained Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, which is similar to what we do at Aberdeen.
“It’s tough, of course it will be, but all I can do is give the players the belief that they’re good enough to go out there and compete.
“If we work hard and leave everything out on the pitch, no matter the result we can come back to Aberdeen proud of ourselves.”
Lancaster guided the Dons to a first win of the season in a 3-2 victory against Motherwell on the opening day – and it was a game which Aberdeen dominated.
That is unlikely to be the case in Cumbernauld against the former SWPL champions, but Lancaster insists his side will still set-up with the same positive and attacking style which was on display in the clash with Motherwell.
Rangers started their season with a 6-1 rout of Spartans at Ainslie Park.
Lancaster said: “We’ll play how we want to play. I want to play a certain style of football and the girls have responded to that.
“We’ve obviously reviewed Rangers, but we will try and not change too much.
“We believe it’s the right approach to go with because we want to play in a way that excites people.
“It’s going to be a big game. We want to do the club and the fans proud.”
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