A regional daily went all out to back a women’s football team on its front page.

The Aberdeen Evening Express urged readers to back Aberdeen FC Women as they prepared to play their first game at Pittodrie, the home stadium of their male colleagues.

The splash came as part of a drive by Evening Express owner DC Thomson to increase its coverage of women’s football, which has seen it take on a dedicated reporter as a result in Sophie Goodwin.

Despite the newspaper’s rallying cry, Aberdeen ended up losing 2-0 to Glasgow side Rangers in last week’s match

Frank O’Donnell, editor-in-chief of Aberdeen Journals, told HTFP: “We have significantly increased our coverage of women’s football over the past year as part of our digital transformation programme.

“We have taken on a new writer in Sophie Goodwin, whose dedicated role is covering women’s football, which is growing exponentially in the north of Scotland.

“When we learned that the Aberdeen women’s team was to play its first match at Pittodrie, we knew we had to do something special.

“The front page idea on the Evening Express came from assistant head of print Marc Thomson with design by Michael McCosh.”