Inverness Caledonian Thistle Prepare for Scottish Cup Gathering
ICT Captain Kirsty Deans is looking forward to welcoming SWPL leaders Rangers to the Highlands where she is seeing the growth of women's sport on both the football and shinty pitches of Scotland.
Third tier Inverness Caledonian Thistle welcome undefeated SWPL leaders Rangers to the Caledonian Stadium as the most northerly side remaining in this season’s Women’s Scottish Cup go in search of an unlikely Third Round shock.
“I think I was working when the draw was being made.”, shares captain Kirsty Deans who I’m speaking to ahead of Sunday’s tie, “The first I knew was when I saw messages flying through the group chat”.
“There was actually a bit of a shock on my part,” continues the 32-year-old who’s career in football began has taken in spells at Inverness City and Forfar Farmington before she returned to the Highland capital, “It wasn’t long after I had taken a group of 70 kids down to see Scotland play Netherlands at Hampden in the Nations League.
“Half the Rangers team were in that squad and I found myself thinking how I’ll be going from watching them at the national stadium to soon chasing them around the Caley Park!”.
“I won’t lie, there was a bit of disbelief and a wee bit of dread but once I thought about it I realised there’ll be no expectations and it’s going to be an occasion for us to enjoy as much as we can.”
The Jags booked their third round spot with an 8-0 win at home to Drumchapel United and come into their first game after the winter break second in the SWF Championship table behind leaders Rossvale, with long-serving coach Karen Mason continuing to push standards for the Highland side, “This is probably the best I’ve ever seen the club in terms of playing style and Karen (Mason) our manager puts in a massive amount of work. We’re sitting second going into the second half of the season and we’ve got the belief we can push on in 2024.”
That victory over Drumchapel United took place at the Millburn Academy, but on Sunday ICT return to the Caledonian Stadium to welcome a side looking for a first ever Scottish Cup triumph after an unbeaten first half of the season, “The only down side is that it’s an enormous park compared with what we usually play on. That might favour them a bit”
“For me, and for Inverness, this is the first time we will have played a full-time professional team. No-one in our league is anywhere near that level just now and as much as we all love an underdog story the expectation on Sunday will be less on getting a win and more on giving as good an account of ourselves as possible.”
One of the players that Deans knows well in the opposing squad is Scotland international Rachel McLauchlan, the Rangers full-back having started her career at Inverness City before spells at Aberdeen, Hibernian, Yeovil Town and Glasgow City led to the current SWPL leaders, “I hope she’s fit to play. We still keep in touch and it’s brilliant that she was involved in the squad for the game against The Netherlands when we were there.”

“It’s nice when people come up here as you don’t get to see international level players in Inverness very often; especially for the younger girls, getting to see a full-time professional team such as Rangers.”
“Rachel’s a success story that people can hear and read about and for people to hopefully see her here in Inverness on Sunday that’s really nice. There will be a lot of the younger players who will know Rachel and her family from over the Kessock Bridge.”
Growth in women’s sport is not only being felt in the world of football for the Inverness captain but also on the shinty pitch, where Deans’ has represented Scotland at international level and has previously held a director’s role at the Camanachd Association, which oversees the governances of the Highlands’s game, between 2020 and 2023.
“I got into shinty a couple of years before football. Being from Kingussie, who are one of Scotland’s most successful sides it’s obviously a pretty big thing.” says Deans who turns out for the Badenoch and Strathspey Ladies side based in her hometown, “Women’s football was always bigger and ballooned off the back of the success of the Euros and World Cup but the women’s game in shinty has grown massively in parallel.”
“In 2018 the Camanachd Cup Final, shinty’s Scottish Cup equivalent, was live on BBC Alba for the first time and it’s been on ever since. Much like it is inspiring for girls to see Rangers on Sunday, it’s also inspiring for the next generation of shinty players to see the women’s game now represented on TV.”
As a player in both sports, shinty also helped Deans to find her voice as she made her way in the world of football and she takes to the pitch on Sunday wearing the captain’s armband, “I tend to talk a lot on the park, that is something that I do a lot in shinty and I’ve taken that into football where in my early years when I was probably a bit quieter.”
“Shinty helped me get confidence to find my communication style and Ive been fortunate to able to build into that leadership role as a captain, which is less to do with my ability and more to do with how I can organise and encourage people. At least that’s what I think!”
Back on the football pitch she remains realistic about her ambitions for Sunday’s visit of the Glasgow giants, “We want to make it as hard as possible for Rangers to break us down. Win the little 50/50’s where we can and if we get a chance, get forward and see what happens. If nothing else it will be a good occasion to come back to after the end of year festivities.”
“Regardless of the result on Sunday it’s about enjoying the experience, for us and for those who come along to the Caledonian Stadium too.”
Inverness Caledonian Thistle host Rangers at the Caledonian Stadium this Sunday in the Women’s Scottish Cup Third Round with a 1pm kick off.
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