Excitement building ahead of Huntly Women's first ever match
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EXCITEMENT is mounting ahead of the first match in the history of Huntly Women’s Football Club.
After weeks of training, including a hectic festive schedule, Huntly will take to the field for the first time on Sunday, January 8, when they host Buckie Ladies in a friendly at the town’s astroturf.
The game is set to provide match practice ahead of the big North League kick-off against local rivals Inverurie Loco Works on January 15, which manager Raymond Henderson is eagerly anticipating.
“It’s definitely a cracking fixture to start the league with,” he said.
“It’s a big game, it’s a local derby and it’s a first game in the women’s set up for both teams.
"A lot of the girls have played against each other before so they will be familiar with each other.
“It will be competitive and hopefully it’ll be an entertaining fixture and we’ll get a good crowd in.
“We’ve had quite a few people say they’re coming along so I expect it to be quite a healthy crowd. With it being a short distance, a lot of people should travel from Inverurie too.”
While excited about the beginning of the campaign, Henderson added that it has come around quicker than anticipated – altering preparations.
“With Scottish Women’s Football (SWF) changing the season to start a month earlier, our pre-season plans were thrown up in the air,” he added.
“We lost four weeks and had to cancel friendlies against Inverness and Buckie.
“We trained right through the festive period at the Sports Village in Aberdeen but, to be fair to the girls, they have all been up for it.
“We had 18 at training on December 27 for a two-hour session, so the commitment is definitely there and the girls are turning up for every session.
“We have managed to reschedule the Buckie game. The girls are all really excited, they’re eager to get going and want to play games.”
The aim for Huntly is to compete right at the top end of the table. Only the champions will have the chance to get promoted, with three out of four regional league winners going up.
“We want to be as competitive as we can be,” Henderson added.
“It’ll depend on if the girls can hit the ground running, but with the players we have recruited we should definitely be competitive at the top end of the table.
“Every player we have is capable of starting so it’s a competitive squad and that’s what you want.
“We are at home for the first two games, with a derby against Inverurie and then a match against last season’s champions East Fife so it’s into the hard stuff straight away.”
Henderson added that there are two players on his radar at the moment, who he hopes to add to the squad before the Locos match.
While the squad looks healthy, there are one or two who are touch and go for the season start with illness and injury.
