St Johnstone WFC head coach Grant Scott hopes Fern Newbigging will take great belief from her match-winning finish on Sunday.
The striker was handed a Scottish Women’s Premier League 2 start against Glasgow Women and netted the opener with a clinical strike from inside of the box.
Neat 15th minute work from Niamh Irvine, Hannah Colyer and Morgan Steedman had created the opportunity.
Newbigging’s contribution proved to be the only goal of the contest in a 1-0 triumph and rewarded Saints with a very impressive three points.
Scott was delighted for Newbigging and is now backing her to kick on.
“When I first came in, I noticed in the first couple of training sessions that this kid has something to offer,” Scott told the PA.
“She has an ongoing calf issue which we need to manage, a bit of tightness.
“We’re trying to raise the level of her training to get as close to a match level as we can.
“She is completing full training sessions and is getting belief and confidence. She has been training well.
“So it’s been picking our moment to give her a start and we threw her in on Sunday.
“And now she has got the winner for us. Hopefully Sunday has given her the belief. Technically, Fern is a very good footballer.”
Scott hailed his team’s quick start at McDiarmid Park and the resoluteness shown to come away with a hard-earned clean sheet.
“In the early games, when I arrived, we had been really competitive physically and in the tackle,” he said. “We felt that had been missing in our last game.
“We asked them to step that up because Glasgow are a good side. There were lots of parts that we asked them to do better.
“They definitely brought them into the game and it was absolutely first class. The result was massively important for us - a great three points to get.
“There is always going to be a bit of good fortune when you are coming up against a side higher in the league.
“But I think we created our own luck. We worked really hard. For the last 20 minutes of the game we were backs against the wall.
“Defensively, as an 11, we did amazingly.”
The win against second-placed Glasgow Women followed on from a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
Scott said: “We’ve proven that we can compete. The players should have the belief that they can compete.
“I think Dundee United are going to win the league by a distance. The experience and capabilities they’ve got, they should be doing that.
“We will have bad results, we’ll lose a game or will drop points when we don’t expect.
“But there is nothing out there that we should fear. Glasgow have been the best of the rest and had only lost one league game up until Sunday.
“We’ve taken a scalp there. It’s another three points but we hope the players believe what we have been saying. We have a chance in every single match.”
Saints are without a league game this weekend but are on the hunt for a friendly.
“It would have been nice to have another competitive game after the feel-good factor of Sunday,” Scott admitted.
“But if we can get a friendly, it gives me a chance to look at a couple of the fringe players and give others a run.”
