Ema Beka is better placed than most to see just how strong a foundation St Mirren Women have built over the last three years.
Not only is the versatile defender a civil engineer by trade, she’s one of the longest-serving members of the Saints squad having joined the Paisley club more than three years ago.
A lot of players have come and gone during that turbulent period, with the coronavirus pandemic causing huge problems for the women’s game in Scotland.
Thankfully the Buddies have come out the other side much stronger than before, with head coach Kate Cooper the one constant driving the club forward.
After playing a starring role in their historic win at the SMiSA Stadium against Westdyke last month, Beka believes she and her teammates can now see that St Mirren are clearly on an upward trajectory – and the sky is now the limit.
She told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “I joined the club in October 2019. I joke about it now that I’m a vet [veteran] of the squad.
“I used to be the newest player on the team for a while because we didn’t sign a lot of players back then.
“Now I’m one of the handful of players left since before covid. I do feel a real connection with the club because of that.
“We have definitely improved dramatically over the last year. Kate has worked so hard, I don’t know where she gets that drive from but it’s behind everything we do.
“We had hard days when we didn’t even have enough players to make up a bench. Now we’re playing at the stadium and we’ve got such a strong squad.
“The game at the stadium was amazing because it felt so professional.
“It shows what you can achieve when you all pull together. I draw a parallel with being a woman in football to being a woman in construction.
“You need to be able to see people do something before you believe you can do it too.
“Just the act of us playing at the ground was so powerful. Now for us it’s about seeing how far we can take this.
“I feel like every single session together we are getting slightly better. There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t continue that.”
The Buddies have a tough task tomorrow afternoon when they take on SWF Championship side Rossvale in the third round of the Scottish Women’s Cup.
They do have home advantage on their side and Beka, who has roots in Canada and Kosovo, hopes the game at Mossedge is livestreamed so her family back home can watch her in action as they look to pull off a big upset.
Beka said: “We were so close to FC Edinburgh last weekend. They’ve beaten us heavily in the past but we’re getting closer to them every time we play.
“The confidence we can take into the Rossvale game is that we know if we want it badly enough, we can step up and make it happen.
“Westdyke were sitting second on the league when we played them at the stadium and we stepped up and blew them away.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good crowd again. We livestream some of our games too which is great, because then my dad can watch them from back home in Canada.
“He’s always been so supportive. I send him pictures of the paper when we’re in them and I’ll be taking him copies from this season when I get back home in January, for sure.”
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