Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘This is just the start’: Dryburgh Athletic in historic cup victory – now they aim to win over more fans to the female game

Dryburgh Athletic celebrate after beating Montrose 1-0 to win the first ever SWF Championship Cup.
Dryburgh Athletic celebrate after beating Montrose 1-0 to win the first ever SWF Championship Cup.

A Dundee football team created history on Sunday by winning the first ever SWF Championship Cup.

Dryburgh Athletic Women’s win was also their first national trophy and, according to the club chairman, the victory is “just the beginning” of things to come for the community club.

Burgh beat Montrose 1-0 at the Falkirk Stadium thanks to a 19th minute goal from Megan Robb.

The excellent counter attacking move was finished off by the former Scotland under-19 player after a perfectly-weighted through ball from Laura Boag.

The scoreline stayed 1-0 and Dryburgh, who were only formed as a performance-level team in 2018, were crowned champions.

Overturning the Mighty Mo

Winning the trophy was made even more remarkable by the fact that they were beaten 7-0 by Montrose in their last league meeting a month ago and their opponents netted 47 times in their four games en-route to the final.

“Montrose went into this game unbeaten throughout the season. They are a fantastic side. Just over a month ago, we lost 7-0 to them in a league game,” explained Dryburgh Athletic club chairman John Beatt.

Dryburgh Athletic chairman John Beatt alongside daughter Alix Barclay-Beatt, showing off their medals.
Dryburgh Athletic chairman John Beatt alongside daughter Alix Barclay-Beatt, showing off their medals.

“We were dealt a harsh lesson. We worked really hard working with the players and head coach Owen McKenzie really drilled into them the positive game plan before the final, which they stuck to and it worked a treat.

John added: “We were up against a really good side but we are a good side ourselves. We’re a work in progress really.

“It’s so pleasing for a side so young that worked so hard to try and win a national trophy in our infancy as a women’s side.”

‘Icing on the cake’

Winning the Championship Cup has already ticked off one major goal for the season. Now, Dryburgh will hope to push up the table as high as possible, pushing for a promotion place to SWPL2.

As well as being a springboard for the performance team to go on to greater things, John also hopes the cup win will help inspire other girls and women to take up football, creating a new generation of female footballers in the city.

“At the start of the season, the only goals we really set were trying to finish as high up the table as possible,” he said

“We did target a cup run, so to win the cup is the icing on the cake really.

“Beyond that, ultimately, what we’re trying to do at Dryburgh is give girls and women the opportunity to play any level of football in the city of Dundee.”

New players always welcome

John says Dryburgh Athletic are always welcoming new players to the club, from the age of three right up the women’s team, with the growing popularity of the game seeing the development of a number of different teams within the club.

“We’ve got two women’s sides, one performance team; the other is the recreational arm. We’ve now got a women’s recreational 5-a-side’s at the club,” John said.

“We’re trying to give as many people the opportunity to play football in the city.

“In regards, to the Championship team, if we can push on to SWPL2 that’s fantastic, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.

“We know it’s a work in progress and we’ll see where the journey takes us. For me, this is just the start.”

Anyone interested in joining Dryburgh Athletic should contact club development officer Sarah Smith: dryburghathleticcc@gmail.com

Scottish women’s national coach discusses career with young Dundee players