St Mirren Women thumped five past Dundee West to further cement their place in the SWF League One top six.
The Buddies hadn’t played a competitive fixture since early December but showed no signs of festive rust in treacherous conditions, racing into a three-goal lead at half-time thanks to a clinical brace from Maxine Fury and a sweet Jen Caldwell strike.
Striker Fury bagged the match ball after sealing her hat-trick after the break, with youngster Robin Patrick netting the fifth.
Despite losing a late consolation goal, St Mirren comfortably picked up the win that opened up a massive 11 point gap between themselves and Giffnock.
Head coach Kate Cooper paid tribute to her players for starting the year in five-star style as they look to keep pushing up the table in the second half of the season.
Cooper told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “It was a very good performance right throughout the team.
“Sophie Cannon made her debut in goal and, despite not having an awful lot to do, she made a number of good saves.
“Maxine had been struggling with a neck injury in the early part of the season but she’s back in the fold and deserved her hat-trick. Having another goalscorer back in the team is always a positive.
“Gemma Dickson was our player of the match, she was superb and controlled the game very well.
“Robin came in at just 15 when we were struggling for players. She’s still just 17 but has stuck with us and everyone was so chuffed for her when she scored.
“It was our first competitive game since our cup game on December 4th, so to have so many players at the top of their game already was a real boost.
“We’ve had a few friendlies, but there’s just a different edge to the competitive games and they were all desperate to be back to the real thing.
“We’ve created a real gap between ourselves and 7th in the table and now it’s just all about pushing on and developing even further.
“Last season at this stage we were right down at the bottom of the table. The progress in just a year is incredible but we need to keep going in the right direction.”
The Buddies have a string of home fixtures approaching, starting with the visit of BSC Glasgow to Linwood this weekend.
Cooper is expecting a difficult game against a side she feels have grown since the start of the season.
She said: “We beat BSC 3-1 earlier in the season but they’ve improved massively. They’ve developed a lot.
“I’m expecting a tough challenge and we’ll have to be at our best.
“It’s great to have a good run of home fixtures after having a lot of away days before the break.
“Hopefully we can capitalise on it and continue to push up the table.”
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