THE Alloa Athletic women's team will be looking forward to hitting the ground running as the league kicks off again on Sunday, January 15.

The club was formed in January 2022 and played a full first season last campaign, finishing sixth in the league and producing some impressive results.

Manager Allan Salvona is feeling confident ahead of the new season, feeling the team can build upon what they can produced last year.

He told Advertiser Sport: "I'm quite excited for it. We've moved out to the Scottish Women's Football League (SWFL) West so we've got different teams that we've not come up against.

"Last season was full of positives. We were a brand new team and it was a big ask to compete with the other teams but we aimed for sixth place and we got it.

"We had some really strong results and performances. It was nothing but a success last year and we've now got that platform to build upon.

"Everything is going in the right direction ahead of the first game this Sunday."

Ahead of the league starting, Allan hosted an open trial session at the Indodrill Stadium to recruit some new players and expand the squad.

"Some of the players we've got in are experienced and have played the game for a number of years and some of them are players we've been looking at for the last few months and wanted in the squad," he added.

"They're definitely going to add to the squad and give us something extra that we have been missing in the last few months."

The transfer window was also not without loss for the women's team, as Summer Garrity announced she would be leaving the club.

Allan commented: "Summer's been great with us during the first season, she helped recruit some new players and she was instrumental behind the scenes as well working on the social media.

"She certainly goes with our best wishes. Another of the girls Jade opted not to sign on this year and she was with us from the very beginning.

"She was one of the most committed players we had so it's a shame to be losing her."

The women's team will be moving from the east to west league and will come up against a number of different teams.

Wasps captain Abbie Trotter is looking forward to the new league and hopes the team can challenge for playoff spots.

She said: "Last season, we had our ups and downs but we finished on the up which makes us feel really positive for this year.

"We're feeling confident, we've got plenty of new faces that we can get on board and everyone's feeling refreshed after the break.

"We want to be up there battling at the top of the table but it is difficult because we've not played any of these teams so it'll be an experience for us as well."

The women's team play their first game against Athena Glasgow Women's FC on Sunday, January 15 at the Indodrill Stadium.