Anna Murray believes Falkirk have shown mentality needed to reach SWPL2 ahead of play-off final tie.

Anna Murray believes that her Falkirk team-mates have shown this season that they have the mentality to win promotion to the Scottish Women’s Premier League 2 after securing a play-off place following a campaign full of “highs and lows”.

The skipper, who has now made over 60 appearances for the Bairns since joining in the summer of 2024, is hoping that Falkirk can mark what will be a new chapter in the club’s history next term by being part of the SWPL system. And to do that, they will need to get the better of second-bottom SWPL2 finishers East Fife this Thursday.

Currently operated under the Falkirk Foundation’s umbrella, the women’s first team will become part of Falkirk Football Club following the conclusion of the current season. The team will compete under the name Falkirk FC Women and will still have a successful pathway thanks to a formal partnership being agreed between the foundation and the football club.

Falkirk face East Fife in SWPL2 play-off

Speaking to the Falkirk Herald ahead of the play-off final clash against the Fifers, defender Murray said: “It is going to be a big occasion. With it being at a neutral ground it has that cup final feel to it. If we managed to achieve promotion it would feel be a massive moment for the club. Over the past few years, the team has come on leaps and bounds all things considered. Getting promoted would top off what has been an amazing season for us.

“We deserve something out of this season. East Fife will be tough opponents. Going from what I seen of them previously, they play decent football. But I don’t think we thought too much about who we would play even although it could have been St Johnstone also. The level between the bottom-end of the SWPL2 and the Championship isn’t much. I think anyone could beat anyone on their day.”

The former Livingston, Celtic and Partick Thistle defender added: “The move this summer to join the football club is massive. I am delighted for everyone, especially Craig Tully our manager and the coaching team. I was the physio for East Stirlingshire when he was manager there has been a real connection there for a long time. I know the amount of work they and all of the foundation staff have did in the background for a period of time.

“There’s so much people do in the background like securing sponsors and things like that. The good thing with this move is that other people can take on those sorts of roles now or at least help. It is a positive step in the right direction. I’m not here to defend Falkirk as a club but I do think that people would have been so focused on the men’s first team over the past few years that it was probably natural that this didn’t happen until now when the men’s team were in a better position. I do get that it would have been a much more difficult thing to do if the men’s team were still playing in League One. There are so many benefits for the club too having us under their umbrella now.”

Bairns bounced back to secure second spot

Falkirk finished the regular Barclays Scottish Women’s Championship season in second spot on 52 points from 25 outings, having beaten champions Renfrew Ladies on the final day to cut the gap down to six points. But it looked like the Bairns were odds-on to lift the title after 13 matches when they led at the summit by ten points having been unbeaten up until that point.

“The regular league season was a classic highs and lows campaign,” Murray explained. “We had the real high at the start, doing so well and being really far in front. But we did feel the low of losing top spot and eventually having to actually really battle to make sure we finished second as Rossvale pushed us all the way. It was a new thing for us a group - I think most people had written other teams off because we were clear at the top unbeaten but had a difficult time of things after Christmas.

“We didn’t cope with the pressure as well as should have. We fell short of the title in the end but there was a lot of different things that happened along the way like injuries to key players that didn’t help. What took real character was to make sure that we didn’t miss out on that play-off spot. And we now have a chance to go up.”

Thursday’s SWPL1 play-off final takes place at the Albert Bartlett Stadium in Airdrie with kick-off at 7.30pm. Tickets are priced at £8 for adults and £2 for concessions and can be purchased via the Airdrieonians ticketing website.