Caley Thistle Women’s manager Karen Mason is relishing the return to competitive football as a Championship revamp opens up wider pathway opportunities within the game.
The Inverness side will compete in the 10-club Championship North and each side will play one another three times to make up a 27-match schedule.
They start on August 15 away to East Fife, seven days before hosting Dryburgh Athletic.
Our opening game of the @SWFChampionship 2021/22 season takes us to East Fife on Sunday 15th August! pic.twitter.com/9uS2t3tz3v
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle WFC (@ICTWFC) July 21, 2021
Their next game, on September 5, sees them go to Buchan then Montrose will come to Inverness on September 12.
Mason said: “It seems familiar. We have had East Fife away as our opening game in the past. We played them a couple of weeks ago in pre-season as well and had a look at what they’ve got.
“We’re just excited about the new season. It has been a long time coming and we’re keen to get back in and start off on a strong footing.
“I’m really confident in how our team can perform. I would like to think we could be there or thereabouts. Top two is our aim.
“With the new structure, first place gets automatic promotion and the runner-up goes into a play-off opportunity, so finishing in the top two is our minimum aim.”
#SWFChampionship | Here's a look at the opening fixtures for the 2021/22 @SWFChampionship season ⬇
Which teams are going to start their season off with three points? ✔ pic.twitter.com/ilHqLGR8jj
— SWF Championship (@SWFChampionship) July 21, 2021
Revamp leads to new league being confirmed
It has also been confirmed that for the 2022/23 season, the Championship will become a 10-team national league.
The new division will be made up of the SWPL 2 side that finishes bottom in the 2021/22 season along with five teams from Championship South and four teams from Championship North who are not promoted.
The remaining Championship teams who don’t finish within the relevant positions to enter the national Championship will go into a new division, League One.
This new level will allow for new teams to enter the performance pathway in a sustainable manner and provide growth opportunity for the performance pathway as a whole.
Mason feels this is a smart move by Scottish Women’s Football (SWF).
She explained: “This is a good move, especially when there is a recreation arm of the game as well.
“For those teams coming in, it is a massive jump for them to go from playing in the Highlands and Islands League for example to go into the performance pathway.
“This will allow teams that want to progress and are maybe just starting out a better stepping stone.”
Summer of action gets team into shape
Due to the pandemic, last season’s league campaign was cut short, with ICT winning their first two games.
The Highlanders have been rattling through a range of pre-season matches this month against sides from their own division.
Most recently, a 5-0 defeat by Montrose was followed by a 3-2 win at Dryburgh and a 10-1 victory at Grampian at the weekend.
Rhian Jappy netted six times on Sunday, with Kirsty Deans at the double and goals from Natalie Bodiam and Abbey Ross taking the scoreline to double digits. It was a first club goal for Ross, which capped a fine performance all round.
Mason has found the summer fixtures beneficial as she assesses not just the progression of her group, but also of direct opponents.
She added: “It has given us the chance to see what everyone else’s squad are like. Generally, I don’t think there has been too much movement between teams in terms of player turnover, so it allowed us to see how much depth others have got in their squad.
Our goal scorers in yesterday’s friendly win were Rhian Jappy(6), Kirsty Deans(2), Natalie Bodiam and a first for the Club for Abbey Ross! pic.twitter.com/G2CEg3bkvI
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle WFC (@ICTWFC) July 19, 2021
“It has been an advantage to play friendlies against one another, whether it’s their strongest teams, who knows, but it has been a good insight.”
Promising signings settling in well at Inverness
The latest recruits at Inverness are Ross and Tina Kelly, and Mason is delighted by how they’ve settled in.
She said: “They are two young, really promising players, who have done well in pre-season. They have come on so well in such a short time and that’s really promising. Hopefully that will continue throughout the season and we get more games in.”
The opening two rounds of games in Championship North are as follows: August 15 – Dryburgh Athletic v Buchan, Dundee West v Dunfermline Athletic, East Fife v Caley Thistle, Montrose v Stonehaven, Westdyke v Grampian; August 22 – Buchan v Montrose, Dunfermline Athletic v Westdyke, Grampian v East Fife, Caley Thistle v Dryburgh Athletic, Stonehaven v Dundee West.
Caley Thistle will have a friendly against Aberdeen under-19s on August 1 then use the weekend before the league starts for a squad training session.
Champions Clach and Buckie involved in weekend thriller
In the Highlands and Islands League last week, champions Clach and Buckie shared six goals, Sutherland won 4-2 at Brora Rangers and Caithness were 4-0 home victors against Orkney to get their campaign off and running.
The next set of fixtures in the division will be on August 1.
Early leaders Caley Thistle, who have racked up 19-0 and 23-0 routs in their first two games, will host Nairn St Ninians, while it’s Kirkwall City v Caithness, Orkney v Brora Rangers and Sutherland v Buckie Ladies.
