Hutchie Ladies on last leg of promotion push to join elite

The Saughton-based side are second in the First Division with four games to play, but hope to secure promotion by their closest challengers slipping up in the crucial last few weeks.

Promotion to the top tier could have a profound positive impact on a club that has traditionally acted as a feeder team to Premier clubs, as manager Neil MacRae explains.

"As a club, it would have a huge impact," he says. "We have over 120 girls from under-11s to the Ladies' team, but when it comes to the point they would step up to the Ladies, they tend to move to Premier clubs.

"There are players in our team who represented the Scottish Universities team last year, so there's quality there. We have some outstanding players who should be playing for Scotland who haven't had a look in, and playing in the Premier League will be good for them, too."

Despite having to rely on third-placed Toryglen slipping up to have any chance of finishing in the runners-up berth, MacRae is concentrating fully on his side maintaining a 100 per cent record in its remaining fixtures against Troon, Buchan, Raith Rovers and Glasgow City Reserves.

"We're very hopeful of promotion, and a lot of it's now in our own hands. Other teams have games in hand, but we just need to keep on winning. We've been really strong this season and we have a good squad, including a lot who have come through our youth system. The players have a lot of drive to get up to the Premier, and that's what we want as a club. Whatever your sport, you always want to play at the highest echelon."

Hutchie have already proved they can hold their own against the top tier by equalling the efforts of Premier League Inverness over 90 minutes in the second round of the Scottish Cup earlier in the season, before losing narrowly in extra time at Saughton Enclosure.

Assistant manager Malcolm Mackenzie, 60, believes his side has the quality to match the country's top clubs. "The standard's very good, and although I'd imagine the Premier League would be better, some of our girls have very quick feet and are a pleasure to watch."The quality has been a surprise to me since coming here after years in boys' football, but then you realise that some of these girls have played for a long time in Hutchie's 13s and 15s teams upwards.

"Getting to the Premier would hopefully entice more girls to come along, and help the club keep a number of young girls who've played for Scotland youth teams and who'd often leave for Premier teams."

The scenario of Hutchie losing players to upper-league rivals is familiar to Elaine Mason, secretary of the girls' under-17 team, who says the Ladies' side will be looking not only to emulate their city rivals, but to stop them "stealing" Vale's best young talent.

"The Hutchie coaching team is all about getting into the Premier League, with Boroughmuir, Spartans and Hibs all already up there," she says. "Hutchie don't really have a lot to do with the other Edinburgh teams, although there's a bit of rivalry between Hutchie and Spartans, because it seems when girls leave Hutchie they want to go there.

"There have been three of our players leave for Spartans in recent years, but we want to try to retain them, firstly so they can help us reach the Premier League, and then to give them chance to play there."

Celtic Reserves lead the First Division but will be denied promotion as champions for the second successive season; the presence of Celtic's first team in the Premier League restricts the progress of the second string.