Aberdeen Women manager Clint Lancaster is disappointed to lose loan goalkeeper Faye Kirby, who has returned to parent club Liverpool after sustaining an ACL injury.
The 19-year-old goalkeeper came off injured in Wednesday’s defeat to Hibernian, with Liverpool since confirming she has ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament.
The Merseyside club also confirmed Kirby will be sidelined for the rest of the campaign.
During her short time with the Dons, Kirby had been a standout performer making seven appearances in the SWPL and keeping two clean sheets.
Lancaster is disappointed to lose the services of the England U23 international, as he said: “Faye was fantastic for us and I feel really sorry for her.
“She was brilliant so it’s a real loss for us, for Liverpool and for England. She is just a fantastic player.
“It’s the nature of the beast – you get horrible injuries like these in football, unfortunately.”
He added: “We’re gutted for Faye because she’s been playing well for Aberdeen.
“It was an innocuous challenge and her own player made contact with her, so we’re desperately disappointed because she was excellent since she’s been here.
“She was looking really, really sharp and we were looking forward to seeing how the first six months at Aberdeen would help her kick on, playing week in, week out.
“We’ll rally around her, we’ll be there for her and support her to get her through the rehabilitation as quick as she can.
“With these types of injuries the first thing is accepting that it’s happened and what the journey ahead is going to be.
“Faye is very calm and relaxed in most situations anyway, so I think that side of her personality will help her massively.”
In Kirby’s absence, goalkeeper Annalisa McCann made her first start of the SWPL season in Sunday’s defeat to Celtic, and Lancaster was happy with her display.
The Dons boss said: “Annalisa came in and I thought she did well. She was busy which is what we expected would happen against Celtic.”
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