It is full steam ahead for Inverurie Loco Ladies after they clinched the SWFL North title with four games to spare.
The Garioch side, who are in only their second senior season, won the regional league in their last game at Harlaw Park on April 14 with an emphatic win 7-1 win over Elgin City.
It was their 14th victory of the season and keeps their 100 per cent record in tact – and coach Carrie Doig says the ambition now is to complete the campaign as invincibles.
Locos travel to Huntly in their first game as league champions on Sunday afternoon.
Doig said: “It is an absolutely massive achievement for us.
“We have a team with a lot of young girls who have come through the local teams and also girls who have experience. It is a really good mix and they are all just brilliant.
“We have grown so much in the way we play and the girls listen to everything. They go out and try to implement it.
“Some of them have made the step up to women’s football for the first time and they’ve taken it all in their stride.
“I am so proud of them. The girls have absolutely smashed it.
“We are hopefully going for an undefeated season, which would just be incredible. The girls are fully for that as well.
“They never want to rest. They want to keep going and keep achieving – and I think you can see that in the scorelines.
“They don’t just want to win by one goal because they want to show what they can really do.”
Inverurie Loco Ladies already looking forward to the next challenge
With SWFL North a regional division, promotion to the national League One will be offered to Locos – but will not be compulsory.
However, Doig – a former Aberdeen Women defender – says her side are relishing the chance to move up from the fifth division.
She said: “We definitely want to go up – and we want to go and challenge in that league.
“We have played some of the other teams in the pyramid in the Scottish Cup and in pre-season friendlies and it was hard, but we held our own.
“We want our players to keep developing – and playing against those tough teams is how you can do it.”
This is not the first time – like it is for many of the youngsters at Locos – Doig has won league silverware, having been part of the Aberdeen squad who won the SWFL Division One North and SWPL 2 titles back-to-back.
She added: “Doing it with the Dons was an incredible feeling. We had been through a lot before winning those titles.
“But coming from a totally different perspective this time, it is just as special.
“I want the girls to have that experience I have had winning trophies. They totally deserve it.”
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