Ross County Women are ready to move into a new chapter for the team, according to head coach Nicola McWhirter.

The past 18 months has seen a raft of changes for the Dingwall club. Star players like sisters Keira and Teagen Syrjanen, midfielder Daisy Fraser and goalkeeper Amy Marshall moved on for university or to join other clubs.

Experienced heads such as Laura Cameron and Rachel Blackhurst hung up their boots, and former manager Iain MacIver stepped away.

That left a threadbare squad of young talents, and a new coach in the form of McWhirter, to see out last season by any means necessary.

However, it appears as though a turning point has come. An experimental League Cup group stage saw them exit the competition, but back-to-back wins in the SWFL North have given the team reason to be optimistic for the league campaign.

Adding in the returns of former captain Cameron and Rhea Hossack after intermittent appearances, an impending long-awaited debut for Kayleigh Mackenzie and new signings Chloe Macleod and Sam Macintyre from Clachnacuddin, and McWhirter is excited once again about what the future holds.

“We have started getting results and seeing improvements after a really tough summer, so I think this is us picking up again now,” she said.

“At the end of last season, we only had eight girls consistently with the rest of the team being made up by under-16s. They did brilliantly for us, but they were playing Saturday and Sunday so it was tough on them.

“The young players are fantastic, they give everything they can, but sometimes they need experience on the park to help them, so it has been fantastic to add that again in the last couple of weeks.

“We have 17 players available for this weekend, which I’m delighted with because it’s the most I’ve ever had, and if we can get that consistently I think we can do very well this season.

“We have shown we can get results in the last couple of games. We had a really good result against Buckie, and then got another good result against the new team in the league, Dundee East, last weekend.

“Hopefully the girls are starting to believe it’s working. We’re going for another win this Sunday when we have Dundee West up in Dingwall. We’re going for three out of three.”

Although it was difficult in the short-term for Ross County’s women, the experience gained by those teenagers should serve them well for years to come.

If this is the start of a revival of fortunes on the pitch, McWhirter is optimistic that it can be maintained in future seasons with the breadth of talent across the club’s youth sides.

“Knowing we’ve got that talent coming through for the next few years is really exciting,” she added.

“I think we’ll have girls going off to uni every year, but we run teams from under-8s through to under-16s – and hopefully an under-18s from next season – so the future is bright for Ross County.

“Things are looking good, and we’ve got that balance in the senior team now so hopefully we can get that consistency.

“With the experienced players we’ve got coming in, the young players have the fitness to last 90 minutes no problems at all.

“Fair play to Chloe McAllister, who has been with us the whole time and stuck it out, being a great role model for the younger ones.

“Our captain, Helen Urquhart, has just turned 20 but she’s been a role model too. They’re honestly a great bunch who want to improve and be successful, and hopefully that’s what they can give us this season.”