Scotland's women meet their Welsh counterparts tomorrow in the home side's second EURO2013 qualifying group. National coach Anna Signeul and her whole squad are looking forward to the game at Tynecastle. Scotland started their campaign in the right way with a confidence boosting 6-1 win over Israel. This kind of result demonstrates the strength in depth available to Singeul as Scotland manager.
She said: "Tomorrow’s match is very important for us. We want to keep the momentum we have built up over the last few games as we go into our first home qualifier against strong opponents. The players are really looking forward to the Wales match and I’m really pleased with the squad at my disposal. We have a group of players who are competing and working hard to be in the starting line-up and that will improve the squad and the overall game in Scotland. As a squad, we are developing all the time and qualification for the European Championships in 2013 is the next target. I believe that we are at that level now and it is where we want to be. The squad is more than good enough to compete with the top teams in Europe and the players want to be playing in a major finals. We want to be competing with these teams and that drives all the players and staff on."
Tomorrow’s clash will be Wales’ third qualifying game and despite having lost both – 2-0 to Republic of Ireland and 4-1 to France – Anna believes that they will be tough opponents. She went on: "Wales have a number of players playing in the FA Women's Super League in England, so we know they are a good side. The game will be a good test of where we are as a team. We go into this game on the back of a good run and hopefully we can continue to build on that."
Scotland ran out convincing 6-1 winners when they played their first group game, away to Israel, and saw off Finland by the aggregate score of 7-3 when they played a home and away double header last month. Top scorer Julie Fleeting missed these games due to injury which allowed others to add to their tally. Singeul was pleased to see so many players delivering the goal threat. She said: "I was very pleased with the result in Israel. The game certainly was not as easy as the scoreline suggests and Israel were a very physical and disciplined side. With our top scorer Julie Fleeting missing through injury for the match in Israel, it was pleasing that the goals came from so many different players - Jane Ross, Jennifer Beattie, Hayley Lauder and Kim Little. That is greatly encouraging for the campaign ahead."