Lindsey Dunbar was delighted to have made her 50th appearance for Forfar Farmington recently at the age of eighteen.
The youngster reached the milestone against Glasgow City and praised the likes of Nicola Davidson for helping her to improve her game since her debut at the beginning of the 2014 season.
The midfielder also believes it has helped having Jade McLaren and Amy Gallacher alongside her with the trio having played together since their time at Dundee United SC girls.
Speaking following her achievement, Dunbar said: “I am delighted to have reached my 50th appearance for the club at such a high level at the age of 18 years old. I am now hoping to continue making appearances and playing for the team.”
Dunbar feels that she has improved since her debut with captain Nicola Davidson one of the key reasons for this due to her influence on and off the pitch.
“From joining the club and stepping up to the SWPL two years ago, it was a scary and nerve racking experience but having players like Nicola, Alana and Gemma there, it made it a lot more comfortable for me because they are always there if you need to talk to them and they keep you right on and off the park. I’m sure I can speak for a lot of the younger ones when I say it’s made it a lot easier with having players like them around.”
She continued: “I found it a lot more useful because I have been playing alongside Nicola in the midfield for a while now and I feel like I have learned a lot from her, even just from watching her style of play. At the start when I joined Forfar I found it hard positional wise and knowing when to be disciplined but she has helped me massively.”
The midfielder moved to Farmington’s youth set up alongside McLaren and Gallacher and all three moved up to the senior side within months of each other; McLaren making her 50th appearance at the end of last season while Gallacher is due to reach this milestone in the next few games.
Dunbar believes it has helped all three fit in having known each other for years and hopes it can continue in the future.“I have played with Jade and Amy for years since I started playing football at Dundee United. It’s always good moving to a new club with your friends, they know you on and off the ball so it made it a lot easier to move and fit into Forfar when we first joined.”
“It’s amazing to see how far we have all progressed, from Jade reaching her milestone last year and Amy reaching hers soon. It’s also great to see how well Amy has done for herself and the club getting into the Scotland u19 squads. It’s an amazing achievement at just the age of 17 and 18 years old, I hope to continue to play with both of them for many more years to come and with all the other girls at the club.”
Following the defeat to City, Dunbar felt the side were unlucky not to take anything after giving the champions a scare.
Dunbar said: “We all went out there with determination to win the game, I thought we fought well for each other and took our chances. Sometimes it worked but sometimes it didn’t, it just shows what we can do when we work together as a team; although we didn’t get the result we wanted we still proved to ourselves and others watching the high standard we can play at and I’m hoping we continue to do so through the season, we will soon get the results we deserve.”
The midfielder was disappointed with the defeat to Rangers and she said the squad have been working hard to ensure they don’t make the same mistakes again.
“We are always learning from each game we play in, if we have a good game or a bad game it’s always a learning experience. The team and I were all disappointed with the result against Rangers. I felt as if we had enough talent in our side to push on and get the 3 points against them but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Looking back and thinking about the game we have decided to take that game on board as well as the previous ones and we are going to work hard for each other and the club and get the results we deserve starting from our big week starting up this week.”
“Training this week has been good, it was good to get a win against Hutchie Vale in the friendly at the weekend, although we are all excited to get back to the league this week and hopefully get the 3 points we deserve on the board. I feel we just need to believe in ourselves because there is so much talent in the team; once we do that and all the other things that the coaches are asking from us then we will start to gain points.”
The Dundonian reckons the new members of the squad have been perfect for the team as it means there are no guaranteed starters in the team and everyone has to work hard to earn a place in the match day squad.
“I think that it was an easy decision for the new signings to come to Forfar because of their experiences in previous years. I think travelling with your friends and joining a new club together makes it ten times better and more comfortable. The new signings have fit in so well at the club, it is always easy coming and fitting into a club like Forfar because everyone is so welcoming and all of the girls are close, they’re a great bunch on and off the pitch.”
She continued: “I think having the new girls in made the squad a lot more exciting as we now have players who can play in different positions. This made it a lot harder for the coaches to pick who to play; it’s always hard when you see the talent in the team but even the standard and competition in training now is more exciting and I feel as if it motivates you and pushes you to want to be better and want to get into the starting eleven. I think at the start they were about nervous about playing in their first game, but all of them have come on and improved in such a short time already and are looking really strong on the pitch every weekend.”
This interview was featured in our match programme this past Sunday.