Edinburgh manager issues challenge to players after winning club's first-ever trophy in dramatic circumstances

Edinburgh manager Andy Enwood is challenging his team to make a habit of winning trophies after beating higher-level opponents to lift the SWF Championship & League One Cup on penalties.

Dryburgh are the holders and play in in the Championship, a tier above League One leaders Edinburgh. But that didn’t stop the Capital side from taking them to penalties and coming out on top and lift their first-ever trophy after a 0-0 draw in the final at Ochilview on Sunday. Enwood, who became manager of the club this season, is proud of what his players have achieved and now challenging them to make trophy success a habit.

“It’s very difficult to win the cups let alone win leagues”, he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “When you do win them, you’ve got to enjoy it and you’ve got to try build on that, keep getting success and build a habit of it. Our next target is to try and maintain the good form and get promotion to the Championship next year. Then take that confidence and see if we can continue it. Winning things is a habit and one we are trying to re-enforce every single week then taking that into games.

“Overall, I would suggest we were good value for the win. When it goes to penalties, it’s the cliché of it being a lottery. But if you looked at the actual game, I thought in the first half we were very good. The entirety of extra time we were very good. The second half we sat off them a little bit. Pressure on the ball wasn’t as strong and we allowed them to grow into the game. Overall, we overcame that, to come again in extra time, we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”

FC Edinburgh lift the trophy at the Indodrill Stadium. Credit: Ger Harley/ SportPix

The team have enjoyed plenty of success this season after being demoted from the Championship to the fourth tier of women’s football in the summer. Enwood’s side are currently unbeaten at the top of League One, only dropping two points all season, as they aim for immediate promotion. With the winter break now underway, he wants his side to enjoy the success they have achieved so far after all the work they have put in up to now before returning to training and focusing on the next challenge.

“No matter how well you did in the game, when it comes to penalties it can caused heightened emotions when you win”, he explained. “That gives it a bit more of an elated atmosphere. The girls are absolutely buzzing and quite rightly. I said to them after the game, you have to enjoy these moments. That’s why you are playing sport.

“Winning as a team is such a special and enjoyable thing to do. The hard work to get to the final and win the game – you have to enjoy it. Come next Wednesday we will be back training with a different focus, but for now the players absolutely must enjoy all the efforts and hard work they put in.”