St Mirren Women head coach positive of rebuild ahead of new season

St Mirren Women boss Kate Cooper is continuing her recruitment drive as she gears up for the new season.

The women’s head coach spoke a week after the team returned for pre-season training as they prepare for the league one campaign which will start on August 11.

And the boss has not been wasting any time in assembling her new look squad this year after a number of players departed the club over the summer, including Karen McCabe and Ceara MacIntyre.

Cooper told Paisley Daily Express Sport : “There was obviously a loss of some big named players that we had.

“And for us, people will see that and think that there are big changes at the club and how do we recover from that?

“But actually we have worked hard to keep a group of players there who are looking forward to the season ahead and they want to challenge themselves.

“It is probably the younger players within the squad that we have kept; for us but that is actually a good balance as they are now starting to get into that age group where they can become leaders.

“But we are always looking to add to the team and the academy whenever we can.”

Recently, the club held their first of what will be five pre-season friendly matches as they took on championship side, Renfrew Ladies.

Despite going behind twice, the Buddies secured a 2-2 draw thanks to a brace from trialist Becky Downs.

But it was the quality provided by youngsters on the pitch that Cooper was most impressed with.

She said: “On the pitch during the game, there was a point where we had three players over the age of 30 and then no one older than 24.

“For us, looking at what was on the pitch, some of those players have been with us since they were 18/19.

“While others are starting to move up from the academy programme.

“It is the longer game that we have always had our eyes on and been playing, so this is another step towards the plan we have.”

And talking about the benefits from the first game back, the head coach added: “Games are all about getting minutes in the legs and introducing new players to the team.

“Pre-season gives us a great chance to work on things and also challenge ourselves before the season starts.

“We want to improve, naturally, on last season as it was a disappointment.

“We are on this recruitment drive and starting back early gives us a chance to be as best prepared as we can”.

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