Gemma Dickson believes her fired-up Buddies will take inspiration from the crowd and the occasion when they step out at the SMiSA Stadium this weekend.
St Mirren Women take on Westdyke tomorrow afternoon in what will be only their second ever appearance at the club’s Paisley ground.
Despite their in-form opponents currently sitting joint-top of the SWF League One table, left-sided midfielder Dickson is confident the Saints can seal all three points if they keep their cool and keep mistakes to a minimum.
After scoring her first competitive goal for the club in last weekend’s 4-2 defeat to Grampian Ladies, the 28-year-old is determined to make the most of the historic fixture at the SMiSA tomorrow.
Dickson told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “I think playing at the stadium will definitely help us this weekend.
“It will give us all that extra motivation to play well. I’m sure it will help inspire a better performance from everyone.
“There has been a real buzz in training this week. There’s a lot of Saints fans in the group who are especially excited for the game.
“Getting ready in a professional environment will be great and it will be a brilliant pitch to play on as well.
“Hopefully we get a lot of support as well, especially with the men’s team not playing this weekend.
“The more that can make it the better it will be for us as players.
“Westdyke are a very good team so we’ll need to be at our best. We need to get our discipline sorted out because small mistakes have been costing us recently.
“We’ve been challenging in every game but we just need to make sure we stay switched on. I’m confident we will on Sunday.”
Dickson, a physio at West Glasgow Ambulatory Care Hospital in Yorkhill by trade, joined the Buddies towards the end of last season from a hugely successful Bishopton side.
Despite originally intending to return to her former club, she enjoyed playing with Kate Cooper’s improving side so much she decided to stay with the Saints.
Dickson, who also played for Queen’s Park previously, believes she made the right choice and hopes to inspire young girls at the SMiSA Stadium this weekend to get involved with the sport at a young age.
She said: “I joined the club at the end of last season because there was a big gap between Bishopton’s season ending and their new one starting.
“I played three games and loved the set-up and the squad. My intention was to go back to Bishopton, but I enjoyed it so much here I decided to stay.
“We’re improving all the time and I think there’s still a lot of potential here to build on.
“Hopefully there’ll be a lot of future St Mirren Women players in the crowd this weekend.”
●Tickets are still available for tomorrow’s clash at the SMiSA Stadium and will be up until kick-off at 1pm.
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