Fife footballer Emma Mitchell's Scotland call-up

Emma Mitchell in action for the Scots against Belarus. Pic by Michael Gillen

Emma, who plays her club football with Reading, helped The Royals become the first side to defeat Manchester United at home in over a year with a 2-0 victory in the Women’s Super League at the weekend.

The former Glasgow City and Arsenal defender more than played her part in the win, her second half free-kick converted by Danielle Carter to put Reading two goals up.

On Monday Emma was given a further boost when Scotland Women’s National Team interim head coach Stuart McLaren included her in his squad for the two Euro qualifiers.

McLaren will be joined by assistant coaches Stuart Glennie, who is a Scottish FA performance school coach at Hazlehead Academy, as well as former Scotland international Leanne Ross who retired from international football in 2017 having played 133 times for her national team.

She has since gone on to attain her UEFA B Licence.

They will also be joined by Scottish FA head of goalkeeping Fraser Stewart who has worked with the squad over the last three years.

The Cyprus game will be played on February 19 at the AEK Arena, Larnaca while the scheduled home game against Portugal will no longer take place at Easter Road and will now also be played in Cyprus on February 23.

This is due to government restrictions on travel between the United Kingdom and Portugal, which began on 14 January, and does not include elite athlete exemption.