St Mirren’s “desire and hunger” to win the league is there, according to head coach Kate Cooper.
The Buddies Women sit top of the SWF League One table ahead of second-placed Bonnyrigg Rose who have a game in hand and are a point behind. Saints’ last game out was an impressive 6-0 win against Queen of the South at Palmerston Park.
The win sees the Mossedge Village outfit stretch their run of seven league games unbeaten with their last defeat coming against Bonnyrigg in August and Cooper feels that she is noticing a change in attitude with her team as the season has gone on.
“There is a hunger and a desire to win the league in the team and you can see that,” she said. “Sometimes there is a process of having to teach them to win, teach them how to get that consistency and how to prepare for games.
“There is a very big educational process for us and I think what they are demonstrating is that we can keep the focus on a game-to-game basis.”
“Yes, we are sitting top of the league but we are nine games into a 22-24 league game season. You have to take it game by game.”
She also highlighted how the revamp of the squad in the summer has made a difference despite many having not played at the level before.
She said: “One of the challenges we have got that we recognise is we renewed our squad so much from last season. All of our players have never played at this level of football before; they are also quite young as well.
“One of the challenges that gives you with the squad is consistency so there is a learning curve there for them as well.”
St Mirren have scored 24 goals and conceded six in the seven league games they have played, showing the signs of a team eager to fight at the top end of the pitch.
Having achieved their first clean sheet of the season against Queen of the South two weeks ago, Cooper was pleased to see their defensive play improve, a major focus in training.
“We have worked on it with the players,” she added. “Not conceding is just as important as scoring goals and sometimes players don’t think like that. They sometimes want to go out and score as many goals as possible and what we are saying is to try and not concede first.
“And we have improved that. If you look at where we were last season, we have halved our average goals conceded. As a team, we are moving in the right direction and I’m pleased to see us achieving targets.”
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