St Johnstone WFC won't dwell on opening day defeat, says captain Hannah Clark

St Johnstone WFC captain Hannah Clark has stressed the importance of not dwelling on Sunday’s season-opening defeat.

The Perth side went down 3-2 against Stirling University in the Scottish Women’s Premier League 2 curtain-raiser.

They had led twice in the contest - initially through Morgan Steedman and then Alix Moodie - but the students recovered to secure the three points.

“It was a disappointing result for us, but we will never get too low,” Clark told the PA.

“We knew at half-time the game wasn’t finished, we had to go back out and work even harder than the first half and unfortunately things just didn’t quite click for us.

“It’s a long season so you can’t let one game affect you too much.

“Of course, the girls were disappointed, we knew we should’ve been better, but these are the results that test the squad early doors and what is important now is that we do better going forward.”

Despite the defeat, Clark reckons the fixture would prove to be a beneficial learning experience for the weeks to come.

“There were a lot of things we took from the game,” she explained.

“We know that to win games in this league you’ve got to do the horrible side of the game a little bit better and be a horrible team to play against. That’s what Stirling did better than us.

“As a footballing team, we’re good, we move the ball well, but that side of the game where you’ve got to dig in and do the dirty work is probably the thing we need to work on the most for our upcoming games.”

Seeking to bounce back immediately, Saints now travel west to play familiar opposition in Queen’s Park on Sunday.

Clark said: “I think the first few games of the season it’s hard to predict what a team is going to bring.

“We know Queen’s Park will be a good side,