St Mirren Women head coach Kate Cooper paid tribute to her depleted Buddies for digging in to pick up maximum points in their first post-split fixture.
The Paisley side travelled to the capital with just 12 players, through a combination of injury problems and availability issues.
Despite having just one sub on the bench, Saints dominated proceedings with all three strikers – Ceara Macintyre, Maxine Fury and Jenny Dougall – netting to seal the win.
The win saw the Buddies move four points clear of Edinburgh Caledonia in fifth position in the SWF League One table with just four games now remaining.
And ambitious Cooper wants her players to target four more wins as they aim to end the season on a high.
She told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “We’re still running with a very small squad because of injuries and players being unavailable.
“We went to Edinburgh with only 12 players available, which brings a different dimension to the game.
“It requires the players to be very mentally strong and they all, to a player, dug in and gave everything they had.
“We dominated the first and second half and we kept the work rate up throughout. Caledonia are a great team and had been on a great run, so we knew we’d have to be at our best.
“We took our chances and were much more clinical. All three of our strikers scored, which is exactly what you want as a manager.
“Naomi Clark-Granger also thundered one off the crossbar, so in fact it could have been an even heavier scoreline.
“Jenny got her first goal for the club and I’m delighted for her. She’s settled into the team really well and is feeling confident about herself.
“The team spirit we’ve built up throughout the season is paying off for us on the pitch and now it’s about challenging ourselves to try and win every game we’ve got left.
“We know that’s going to be tough, but we need to challenge ourselves as that’s the only way we’ll push on as a team.”
St Mirren welcome promotion hopefuls Falkirk to Mossedge Village this Sunday. They currently sit joint-second alongside Westdyke.
After a win and a defeat to the Bairns so far this season, Cooper is confident her squad can keep punching above their weight against teams they’d previously not faced before.
Cooper said: “It’s very tight at the top, apart from FC Edinburgh who have now officially wrapped up the league title.
“We need to have the mentality that we’re going to work hard to try and win every single game and see how high that takes us.
“That adds some real excitement to these post-split games, because there are real tangible goals we’re aiming for.
“If we beat Falkirk and other results go our way, we’ll be a lot closer to Stenhousemuir before we play them at the end of the month.
“It’s a great way to end the season. We hadn’t played many of these top team before but in many cases we’ve beaten them, so that’s huge development and a real confidence boost for the players.
“We know we can compete at this level now and it’s all about giving the best account of ourselves in these remaining games.”
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