Anna Murray explains how Boroughmuir Thistle can improve; last week's opponents Montrose charged by SWPL

The 22-year-old defender, who signed from Partick Thistle in 2020, is confident her team have what it takes to the points required before the Christmas break to improve their position in the table. Boroughmuir are fifth out of eight the teams in SWPL2, with eight points from seven matches.

“We just have to focus on playing to our strengths and coming away with three points,” said Murray. “I think if we can do that towards Christmas we will be in a good position, and we can take that into the new year.”

Boroughmuir’s recent form has improved. They came within seconds of beating league leaders Gartcairn on Wednesday night, only to concede a heart-breaking 90th-minute equaliser.

Boroughmuir Thistle aim to be higher before the Christmas break

Murray believes her team can “build ” on the performance. She added: “Yeah, it was pretty devastating. Obviously we have done well to get ahead. Last-minute goals are always good when you are on the right end of them. But yeah, disappointing to lose the lead to such as late goal after we were battling so well to keep the lead.

She added: “I’ve said to the girls, obviously it does feel like a defeat, but we played Gartcairn a few weeks ago in the cup and they comfortably beat us in the end 3-1. To get ourselves ahead and to come away with a point against the leaders... we just need to build on that and try and keep improving and the wins will start to come eventually.”

Meanwhile, Boroughmuir could benefit after Montrose were charged with fielding an ineligible player against them last week. Montrose have confirmed to the SWPL that they included a player against Boroughmuir without notification to the league that they would be included as a trialist.

As a result, Montrose has been charged with breaching a rule and the SWPL has arranged a disciplinary hearing for tomorrow, Friday. The game ended 3-2 to Montrose, who are in second place with 13 points from six games but now face a potential deduction.