Keeley Banfield was one of four signings to arrive at Aberdeen Women in the January transfer window. The midfielder joined from Bridgewater United where she was captain and has made a good start to life in at the club since moving to Scotland.

“I’m really enjoying my time here. I feel like I’ve really settled well with the girls, I was here a few weeks before signing so that really helped me from that point of view. It took me a bit of time in my first match to get up to speed but I’ve loved playing week in, week out for Aberdeen. I’m really enjoying life up here.”

Banfield grew up in the Somerset town of Shepton Mallet where started playing football in her early-teens.

“I grew up around my dad and brothers all playing football, but it wasn’t until about thirteen or fourteen that I stared playing myself. I started off with the girl’s team at a local grass roots club. I then played with boy’s teams until I was sixteen and that’s when I joined the Yeovil academy. I grew up in Shepton Mallet so there’s not really many high-level football clubs in the area. There are a lot at grass roots level and at that time Yeovil was the only academy in the area. I was playing at Bridgewater when Clint got in touch with me, and I jumped at the chance to move to Aberdeen.”

Keeley arrived at the club at the same time as goalkeeper Jennifer Currie and defender Lois Edwards. The three are sharing a flat together in the city which has helped them all settle at their new club.

“It’s really good. We all get on and have a laugh together, but we all have our own time apart as well. I think it’s important to get on if you’re living as well as playing together and it’s been fun. When I first came up it really helped that Jen and Lois joined at the same time. Lois being English helped too as it felt like we were in the same boat.”

The 20-year-old admits that moving so far from home was something she was bit concerned about before signing. She has overcome that as she has settled in and the fact that her family can follow her progress on television and online has helped with that.

“One of my main worries before coming up here was leaving home to be honest. The first week was really difficult but I don’t really think about it anymore. My parents have been up to watch games and when we play in Edinburgh it’s easy for them to fly up for the game, so I still see them regularly. The fact the games are available on tv and online really helps too. My dad watches them all and gives me tips on my performance so it’s like he’s here on the touchline in that respect. My whole family keep up by watching the games too so it’s nice to know they can follow how I’m doing.”

Banfield admits that she didn’t know much about the women’s game in Scotland before her arrival, but she has been impressed with what she has seen so far.

“I didn’t know much about the Scottish game. I knew the names of the bigger clubs but didn’t know anything about the women’s teams. The standard has been a lot better than I expected and you really notice the difference when you play against the full-time teams. That also gives me something to aspire to as I see the standard required to make it as a full-time pro. My ambition is to play to as high a level as my ability allows and that means playing professional for a team like Aberdeen then that would be amazing.”

The Dons head towards the SWPL1 split knowing that they’ll be in the bottom half of the table. Banfield is looking forward to the final run of games as the team look to finish top of the bottom half.

“The more experience I can get the better. My contract is due to expire at the end of the season and we’ll see what happens then. If there is a possibility to stay on after that then it’s something that I would like to do as I’m really enjoying it here. It think it’ll be really important for us to try and push on after the split. There are lots of games left and we need to focus on those and keep improving. I’m really looking forward to the post-split fixtures and we’re all determined to finish at the top of our half, and I think we’re more than capable of doing it.”