Last week’s Scottish Cup tie against Hutchison Vale was the 100^th competitive game played for Aberdeen FC Women since they came under the club’s control four years ago. There are five players still in the Dons squad that featured in that first ever game. Loren Campbell, Eilidh Shore, Chloe Gover, Bayley Hutchison and Natasha Bruce all played against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the maiden match in February 2019.

The second top appearance maker over those first 100 games is midfielder Eilidh Shore who has played in 90 of those matches. The 20-year-old, who turns 21 later this month, reflected on what has been an action-packed three-and-a-half seasons.

“When we first became Aberdeen Women, we set out to just take one season at a time and hopefully work our way up the leagues. We managed to do that in the shortest time possible winning two leagues in a row and now we’re here after one-hundred games. It was never going to be easy and things haven’t always gone our way but you’ll always have ups and downs over a hundred games.”

It’s easy to forget that Shore and some of her team-mates are still young players given how many matches they have played for their age. “There are a lot of young players elsewhere who aren’t getting the games that we are. It’s never going to be easy for a young player in the top league but getting that experience as young as possible can only be a good thing. We also keep bringing in young players every season and it’s important that Aberdeen do that and recognise the young talent that is coming through.”

As one of the five original players Eilidh believes that it is important that those who have been around a bit longer are there to help the younger players arriving in the squad. “I think it’s important for the young players to have someone to look up to and to help them out when they first arrive. Even though some of us that have been here a while are still young players ourselves, I think sticking together as a group means that everyone can help each other at times”.

Sitting just six matches behind top appearance maker Loren Campbell, Shore has not only been consistent in terms of performance but also with regards to her availability to play. “I’ve been quite lucky in terms of injuries and I’ve not had anything that has ruled me out for too long. Consistency and playing as many games as possible is important to me in terms of improving as a player. I’m happy at playing ninety out of the hundred games. I think any player wants to play as much as possible and I think having that amount of game time at my age can only be a positive.”

After back-to-back promotions in their first two seasons, AFC Women finished fifth in their debut SWPL1 campaign. The top-half placing last term probably didn’t get the credit it deserved considering it was largely the same squad who had been playing two tiers lower just two season previously. The current campaign has been tougher for the team and they have had to contend with co-Managers Emma Hunter and Gavin Beith leaving after a disappointing run at the start of the season. Despite that, Shore believes that the squad are heading into 2023 in a good frame of mind.

“The mood in the squad is good. We went through a bad run of results last season but because we ended up finishing fifth that maybe got forgotten. You’re always going to go through good and bad spells as a team and it’s important that you all stick together to pull yourselves through a difficult time. We had the change in management, Emma has been with us from the start and Gavin over the past year or so have both been the reason the team got such a good finish last season. I think our recent run of positive results have shown the strength within the squad. It was a difficult time but I think there is great maturity in the team despite there being so many young players. Nobody hid away when things were going badly, we stuck at and believed in each-other and we’ll continue to do that over the rest of the season”.

AFC Women Top 10 Appearance Holders

1: Loren Campbell 96
2: Eilidh Shore 90
3: Bayley Hutchison 86
4: Chloe Gover 82
5: Eva Thomson 79
6: Jessica Broadrick 78
6: Francesca Ogilvie 78
8: Kelly Forrest 71
9: Natasha Bruce 69
10: Johan Fraser 65