Aberdeen Women manager Clint Lancaster is looking forward to experiencing his first SWPL split – but reckons it should be done differently.
The Dons, who sit seventh, host 11th-placed Dundee United on Sunday in their penultimate game before the 12-team league breaks into a top and bottom half.
The split was decided with five games to spare, with Aberdeen playing out the rest of the season in the bottom half.
This is the second season the SWPL has split for two further rounds of fixtures, but this will be the first time Englishman Lancaster has experienced it in his managerial career.
Lancaster said: “I like the idea of the split, but I would maybe do it slightly differently.
“I think it would be good if you played everybody three times and then you play the teams in your split once, rather than twice.
“It mirrors what the men do and to keep the football collective and to keep it as one, I think it would be good to mirror that.
“There is a gulf clear to see in the women’s game, but there is in the men’s game up here, too. The difference is those teams are all fully professional, but in our league some teams are still part-time.
“I do think the gap does close a bit (over the course of the season) because when you work with a group they grow in confidence.
“So, if you play each team three times by that last game then I think you would see the results getting closer.
“I’m not saying anything is wrong with the way the split is just now, I am just throwing out something different they could look to do to maybe switch things up.
“It’s going to be my first taste of it. We’re looking forward to the split and the ten games we will be playing in that period.”
No pressure on Aberdeen to be best in SWPL’s bottom half
Aberdeen have occupied seventh for most of the SWPL campaign and will go into the split in that position if they pick up just one point in their next two games, thanks to a six-point advantage over eight-placed Motherwell.
Following the Dundee United clash, the Dons travel to reigning league champions Glasgow City after the international break in their final match before the split.
Lancaster is not feeling any stress to be best of the rest, as he said: “We have been under pressure from the start of the season.
“It is my first season here in Scotland and I was expected to come in get results for the team and turnaround what happened last season.
“The players have been under pressure every game because they wanted to improve on last season.
“If we go into the split in seventh then it effectively means we’re top of our group and we’re looked at as the strongest team there, but the teams in the bottom six have taken points off each other all season.
“Hamilton have won two out of their last three, Spartans beat us in the cup and we beat them twice in the league, and Dundee United have beaten us already this season.
“It is going to be tough after the split. We know it is not going to be easy, that is for sure.”
Dons boss hopes to right wrongs against Dundee United
Dundee United travel to Balmoral Stadium without a win in their last eight SWPL matches and without a permanent manager following Graeme Hart’s departure.
They do boast a victory over the Dons already this term, after winning 3-2 in the reverse fixture at Foundation Park, which Lancaster bemoaned as one of his side’s most disappointing results.
The Aberdeen manager said: “If we look and analyse that game, we had all the chances. We created so much and it wasn’t just lumping the ball forward.
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— Aberdeen FC Women (@AberdeenWomen) February 13, 2024
“The chances came from good play and we played some really good football, but it just wasn’t our day.
“We want to go and right that wrong and get that home win against them. We know we’re good enough to do that, and, hopefully, we will come away with the three points.”
The Dons go into the match off the back of a 4-0 defeat to Hearts at the Oriam and Lancaster is looking for his side to be better in the final third.
He added: “We have been working on and tweaking a few things where we can improve.
“It is pretty clear we play out from the back and play good football, but then sometimes the end product is lacking a little bit, so we’re just trying to tidy that up and fine tune it.
“It’s not something that is too difficult to work on and a lot of it is down to the players – them being creative in the final third and doing some problem solving.”
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