There’s something special about the Scottish Cup – and for St Johnstone WFC, the journey begins this Sunday when Queen’s Park arrive in Perth for a 4pm kick-off on the McDiarmid Park astro.
Last season’s run to the quarter-finals was an impressive feat and built belief in the Perth squad, and now Josh Henderson’s side will be looking for another run in this year’s competition.
Attacker Jodie Malcolm was part of last season’s successful route to the quarters, and she says the current crop at McDiarmid are hungry to create more big moments in the competition.
“I think we’re all really looking forward to the game especially after a free weekend last week,” she explained. “Even though Queen’s Park are in our league I think it’ll be good to have a change from the league in a one-off cup game.
“The cup run was really positive last year and it would be great to repeat that this year. I think we need to focus on the current game and put in our best performance in on the day to give ourselves the best chance at another good run in the cup.”
It’s been a competitive league campaign so far for Saints, who currently sit seventh in SWPL 2 with three wins and one draw. Performances have shown progress and promise, and there’s a growing belief that the results will soon start reflecting the effort and development within the squad.
Jodie continued: “I think we’ve had mixed results so far, some really good performances and others where we know as a team we could have been better.
“I think a positive is that we’ve been more clinical in front of goal and different players have contributed to the scoring.
“We’ve also had some really good defensive performances where we’ve worked really hard for each other. I think we’re looking to become more consistent game to game and for the full 90 minutes so we can push on and pick up more points for the rest of the season.”
Saints have of course been back at McDiarmid Park this season playing their home games on the new astroturf surface at the stadium.
And the home support over the course of the campaign so far has been greatly appreciated by Jodie and her teammates.
She added: “It’s been really good playing at McDiarmid and having the supporters come along to watch our games.
“I think it always gives us a boost to have as many people come along as possible so it would be great to have a good crowd on Sunday for our cup match.”
