Emma Black says capturing the SSE Scottish Women’s Cup with Motherwell would rank alongside the top achievements in her career.
The women of steel take on Hibernian at Firhill on Sunday, aiming to complete a remarkable league and cup double.
Black has enjoyed a trophy-laden career, earning an impressive nine Premier League winners medals, six Scottish Cup winners medals and six Scottish Premier League Cup winners medals.
Despite having won all there is to win in the Scottish women’s game, the defender insists sampling Scottish Cup success on the back of a superb league campaign would be amongst the best.
“Winning the Scottish Cup would be right up there with anything I have achieved in the game,” she said.
“Hibs have won all the domestic cups out with the league in the last few seasons, that show they have that winning mentality already in place.
“They have a lot of quality and international players and we are under no illusions as to how difficult a game it will be.
“If you said to me when I signed in January that we’d have won the league having gone all the season unbeaten on the pitch and made the Scottish Cup final I’d have said there was no chance.
“I was a bit unsure of what to expect coming in, but Eddie [Wolecki Black] brought a number of players on board and created that winning mentality, as well as a professional environment.
“People might look at the results and say it was easy for us as we’ve been scoring five or six goals in most games, but it has been far from easy.
“It’s hard to keep on producing good results and performances every week, especially having won the league with a number of games to spare.
“It’s important we continue to train hard and keep the levels up.”
The recent success of the Scottish women’s side clinching qualification for the World Cup has ensured the profile of the female game in the country has never been higher.
Black, who has 40 caps for the Scottish national team, is excited about the continued progress of the women’s game and hopes it encourages Motherwell fans to get along to Firhill to back the team.
“It would be amazing to have Motherwell supporters there at Firhill,” she said. “We’ve won the league, we’re in the Scottish Cup final, come and see us and we can showcase our talents.
“There will be a lot of ‘Well fans who haven’t been to a live women’s match. I’d encourage them to get along and give it a try.
“Everyone of us grew up dreaming of playing in a Scottish Cup final and you want to have supporters there.
“It gives you extra confidence seeing supporters in the stand and it drives you on to win it for them.
“The brilliant achievements of the national side have boosted the profile of the women’s game massively. It has never been higher and that’s really exciting.”