Aberdeen Women midfielder Eilidh Shore has explained why she made herself unavailable for selection for this week’s Scotland under-23s camp.
The 21-year-old and team-mate Bayley Hutchison, who are students at Robert Gordon University, made themselves unavailable for selection due to having exams.
The Dons duo were both originally selected for the camp which will see Scotland take on the Netherlands in Spain on Friday, but they made the difficult decision to withdraw.
Shore and Hutchison were first called up to the under-23s squad in September, with the former starting against Australia while the latter missed out on the match due to illness.
Shore explained: “We both got the email saying we had been picked for this camp, but with the time it fell, for us, it was probably the worst time because we have exams.
“Unfortunately, we had to say we couldn’t go. It wasn’t a decision that was made straight away and I took a few days to go away and think about it all.
“But not only did I think it would affect the university side of it, I thought it might impact my football while I was away because I would bet there worrying about uni.”
The midfielder, who is a fourth year accountancy and finance student, says having to balance her studies alongside football is not something she is unfamiliar with.
Shore added: “This is not the first time and because we’re still part-time we have to think of life outside of football and for me, just now, that is university.
“I am in my fourth year so it’s important I focus on trying to get my degree because there will also be life after football and I will need something else to fall back on.
“It is important just now to not only prioritise football, although I would obviously rather be doing that, because I do have to have preparing for the future in the back of my mind.”
Shore keen for Scotland chance again as she reflects on first camp
Although she is missing the camp, Shore hopes to feature for Scotland under-23s again after a valuable debut in the autumn.
She said: “It was a great experience going away in September and being away with all the girls and playing against top opposition in Australia.
“You notice the step up. The last time I was away with Scotland was under-19s, so you notice the difference in level in the training and in the matches.
“When we knew we would be playing the Netherlands this time, who are another top team, I was disappointed to miss it because those kind of opportunities don’t come around as often as you’d like.
“When the option is there you obviously want to go for it. I can’t go away with the team this time around, but hopefully there are more chances again in the future.”
Despite a heavy 13-0 defeat to Celtic in their last SWPL outing, the Aberdeen midfielder believes the signs of how the team have improved this season under Clint Lancaster are clear.
The Dons sit seventh in the league with 18 points – having won six of their 14 games – while this time last term the Reds were sitting second bottom with seven points after 11 matches played.
Shore said: “When you reflect on the season so far, we’re obviously doing a lot better than we were.
“You can see we have adapted to the new style of play since Clint has come in and some players have different roles, but that has worked well for us.
“It was important for us to get points on the board and even though we did go through a tough spell where we didn’t win, we bounced back from that and got important wins against Motherwell and Spartans.
“Last Sunday (against Celtic) was really disappointing for us, but on the whole it has still been a pretty positive season so far.”
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