‘An illustrious club with ambitious plans’: Why Queen’s Park are firmly on course for SWPL 2 promotion – scout report

When Queens Park Women appointed Craig Joyce as their new head coach back in the summer of 2022, the main target that he and they had was promotion to the Scottish Womens Premier League or SWPL 1 and a chance to test themselves against the best that the Scottish womens game has to offer.

Whilst his first campaign was nothing to write home about, with mixed results leading to the team finishing third from bottom, it has been quite the turnaround during the current campaign for Queens Park, who are based just down the road from Ibrox Stadium at New Tinto Park, with them currently seven points clear at the top of the table with 10 victories in their opening 11 matches.

With that in mind, this tactical analysis will take a closer look at the Glasgow teams tactics under Joyce, detailing how they have gone from a struggling side to the summit in a matter of months. The scout report will break down key aspects of their attacking and defensive play and will show why teamwork has been central to their progress.

Build-up play

When watching Queens Park Women play, the thing that is immediately clear is their desire to be progressive whenever they are in possession, with them always aiming to move the ball forwards and only settling for a sideways or a backwards pass when there is no alternative.

In order to make that possible, their tactics in possession are centred around getting players into the middle channel and positioning them in a straight line, as has happened here with Rachael McConnachie and Sophie McGoldrick, with the former receiving the ball and the latter moving ahead of her to provide a passing option.

This is not easy to execute, with it going against players instincts and seeing them make the pitch compact whenever they have the ball and there is always an inherent risk at doing this due to there being no ways out if the pass up the pitch goes astray. However, this is not something that Queens Park have ever been too concerned about, with them being brave in possession and believing in their overall game plan, and Joyce does need to take plenty of credit for that as it comes down to him introducing a positive mentality this season and ensuring that every player is pulling in the right direction.

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