2023/24 How's Your Touch Awards
The 2023/24 season has come to an end which means it is time to share the love and hand out some accolades to the ballers that have made the season special. Here are our season awards.
The season has come to a conclusion: Celtic were victorious in SWPL 1 after a dramatic final day saw the title head to Parkhead, Hearts recorded a consecutive record high while Montrose kept themselves safe in their first top flight outing, Queen’s Park were indomitable as they picked up a whopping 72 points on the path to the SWPL 2 title, Kilmarnock have found themselves in play-off action with a chance to reach the top division, and Gartcairn pulled off perhaps the greatest escape since the 1963 film.
Team of the Season
It has once again been an incredible season, and there are 11 players that have stood out so much that they make up our team of the season. Before you shout at us that X is missing, or Y was better than Z… we have limited ourselves to one per team and forced ourselves to be sort of accurate with positions so the love can be shared as widely as possible (any discourse is appreciated though if you feel strongly that someone should have been included).
Goalkeeper & Defence
Beth Rennie, Boroughmuir Thistle
The 18-year-old Hearts loanee has already amassed plenty of SWPL 2 experience and this season has been her best yet. Making 24 appearances across all competitions, she kept the second most clean sheets in the league with six (for anyone thinking that’s not many, remember how chaotic SWPL 2 is). Just 28 league goals conceded across the season, she was a large factor in Boroughmuir Thistle’s impressive form as they challenged for a playoff spot.
Natasha Frew, Livingston
Livingston’s captain, the heart of their defence, and, as revealed at the end of the season, penalty taker supreme. Frew led the Lions into their first season in SWPL 2 and they roared. Promotion challengers for much of the season, only losing out on the final day, only losing nine games across the 28, and a Scottish Cup quarter final appearance. It has been quite the season for the West Lothian side.
Georgia Hunter, Hearts
Hearts have continued their trend of setting new standards season on season under Eva Olid, their captain has been a huge part of that this season. The capital side boast the best defence outside the top three conceding just 41 with Hunter deployed as a right sided centre back up until a tactical shift on matchday 14 that saw a shift to a back three with Hunter in the middle. Dominant on and off the ball, Hunter has been the scourge of attackers across the league this season.
Reese McCulloch, Kilmarnock
The 18-year-old centre back has played beyond her years this season. Calm and composed at the back she was a key part of Kilmarnock’s defence over 22 league appearances this season. Of Kilmarnock’s defenders she played the most minutes by far, captain Laura McLaughlin over 200 behind her as injuries, transfers, and squad rotation led to an ever changing back line. The season may have ultimately ended with disappointment in the playoff final, but the future is very bright for Kilmarnock.
Emma Lawton, Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle’s very own home grown hero, after time with Manchester City’s development side and Motherwell she returned to the club in the summer and it’s like she’s never been gone. Bombing up and down the right in every role from full back to winger she has excelled in Brian Graham’s set up. Picking up three assists and two goals (three if we’re counting that goal against Rangers) she has been a constant attacking threat for the Jags.
Midfield
Erin Burns, Gartcairn
SWPL 2’s Olympico queen. Burns started the season with newly promoted Livingston, helping them into an unexpected promotion race early on in the season. In September she was nominated for the league’s player of the month award and won the club’s. Then in December she announced that she would be leaving the club, swiftly announced by Gartcairn as one of their reinforcements to take them off the bottom of the league. Six goals in the back half to go with the four she netted at Livingston, and countless chances put on a plate. She has been a permanent fixture in the nightmares of full backs.
Chelsea Cornet, Rangers
The plaudits are more regularly on offer for the unpredictability of Rachel Rowe, the playmaking of Kirsty MacLean, or the goalscoring of Hardy and Howat, but it is Cornet that provides the structure for them to perform. As reliable as they come she quietly put in the hard yards to allow for Jo Potter’s tactical exuberance to work. Dropping in to cover an overlapping centre back, covering wide for the attacking wing backs, and allowing Rowe, MacLean, or McLoughlin to step forward into attacking areas. Boasting an 83% passing accuracy and a 70% tackle success rate all while netting seven goals in the league, she does it all.
Ellie Kane, Queen’s Park
Our SWPL 2 player of the year, and was their really any doubt it’d be her? An absolutely unbelievable season from the midfielder-turned-forward that told us she’d like to get more goals and assists before the season began. Queen’s Park were aiming high with promotion on the cards but nobody could have predicted how they would achieve it, Ellie Kane winning player of month a record four times in a row to kick it all off.
Playing in a role somewhere between attacking midfield and striker Kane has netted 30 in all competitions, 28 coming in league fixtures. From tap ins to 30 yard free kicks she has done it all. Even during a goalless spell just after the turn of the year she was still heavily contributing on and off the ball. SWPL 1 defenders, you have been warned.
Amy Gallacher, Celtic
There are few superlatives that can capture Amy Gallacher’s form this season. Now 25, the potential that was obvious during her early career at Forfar Farmington and Hibernian is being realised. Since joining Celtic she has played further forward joining the attacking line, 25 goals and 19 assists this season say that that has been a good decision.
Most impressive has been her ability to manipulate the ball, whether a pass is coming at her too strong or a shot is set in an awkward position she finds a way to make it work. Dragging defenders all over the place with her dribbling, picking passes through the eye of a needle, and keeping her composure to put the ball in the net. Fitting that it was that composure and ball control, against her former club, in the last minute, to win Celtic their first SWPL title. Dreams made reality.
Forwards
Bayley Hutchison, Aberdeen
In her previous two seasons playing in SWPL 1, while still a teenager, Hutchison had registered 13 and 11 goals respectively, the season before that she scored 21 in SWPL 2 as a 17-year-old. It was no secret that she was a quality goalscorer. This season has seen her make the next jump in her development, placing her name amongst the finest strikers in the league as she scored 28 on her way to the golden boot. Her goals make up 49% of Aberdeen’s total scored this season, no other player comes close in terms of individual contribution. It has been an unbelievable season for the under-23 international.
Jorian Baucom, Hibernian
There are few superlatives left to describe quite how incredible Baucom’s first season in the SWPL has been. 25 goals, joint second for the most in the league, and three assists is a massive return. Her speed and physicality giving Hibs an outlet but it is in her ball control that her game has really stood out. Often dropping in to midfield to receive the ball, a little chop or some step overs to create space, and a ball out to a teammate to set Hibs on the offensive. Aside from the sheer number of goals her presence has allowed the younger members of the Hibs attack to play with added freedom, knowing that they can play off of her and that she’ll be there to provide an outlet.
Manager & Young Player of the Season
Jo Potter, Rangers
In her first job as a senior manager Jo Potter has gone from “I’m not sure about that, it’s a big risk” to “she’s reinventing football”. Nic Doc and Rachel McLauchlan at centre back still sounds a little mental but it cannot be argued that it doesn’t work. She has come into a club that had become a little stale and turned it into an absolutely beautiful panzanella.
A domestic cup double saw them look flawless in knockout competitions. In the league they ended with disappointment but when you look over the course of the season as a whole they have had an incredible year. All of that, and she’s integrating some of the most exciting young players in the SWPL with significant game time and important roles. Even the most bitter of rival fan has to admit it has been a debut season to remember for the former Lioness.
Mia McAulay, Rangers
To say McAulay’s breakout was sudden would be an understatement. A couple of appearances at the end of the 2022/23 season earned her a first professional deal but with change in the dugout and Rangers impressive squad depth, few would have expected her to play such a crucial role in a team that’d take home a cup double/the SWPL cup and run the league so close. She has thrived as one of Rangers’ attacking wing backs, filling in on either side to great effect. 12 goals and four assists across the SWPL season, at just 17 she has cemented herself as one of the most important players in Jo Potter’s system. Rangers fans have a lot to be optimistic about.
Miscellaneous Awards
Megan Whiteford, Rossvale
Whiteford’s record and individual awards this season speak for themselves. 20 goals in 19 games, league champion, Championship top scorer, Rossvale player of the year, Rossvale fans’ player of the year, Championship players’ player of the year nominee… Most importantly, now, ‘How’s Your Touch SWF Player of the Season’!
Leading the scoring for Rossvale, everything she has touched this season has turned to goals. Those goals firing them to the league title as they outscored the rest of the league by 20+. SWPL 2 beckons next season, goalkeepers beware.
Jorian Baucom, Hibernian
We’ve already told you how amazing she is as part of the team of the season, but it is worth repeating. Hibernian, rebuilding with Grant Scott’s return, needed a goalscorer to take some of the load away from the young forwards throughout the squad. Baucom was signed from Damaiense in Portugal and provided that and more. Where her future lies is yet to be announced (Jorian if you’re reading this, the SWPL is an iconic league for iconic people) but whatever happens the 27-year-old has more than earned her place in Hibs fans hearts.
Erin Cuthbert, Chelsea
The season may not have ended with that elusive UWCL to send off departing manager Emma Hayes, but Erin Cuthbert gave her all to try and make it happen. The WSL isn’t a bad consolation, eh? Her performance away in Barcelona standing out in showing the full extent of her talents. Far removed from the diminutive, creative, attacker that left the SWPL seven years ago. The 25-year-old has been typically fierce in midfield, providing energy and bite coupled with the technical ability to create space where there is none.
Cuthbert ended the season with a crazy set of statistics, in the 80th or higher percentile amongst WSL midfielders for non-penalty goals, shots, shot creation, touches, passes completed, [breath], successful take ons, tackles, interceptions, blocks, and aerial duels won. She does it all, and she does it to an extremely high level.
Jade McLaren, Montrose
We couldn’t quite find space for her in the team of the season, but we would be remiss if we didn’t give Montrose’s number six her flowers. On paper 10 goals and 6 assists this season from the midfielder is a fantastic return, and crucial to Montrose’s survival. On the pitch those goals more often than not came from ridiculous positions as she took aim from anywhere and everywhere on the pitch.
She has been magic in a season that has seen Montrose defy many expectations (HYT note: not our expectations, we predicted them to stay up unanimously… just saying). It would be a disservice to her teammates to suggest that the Mighy Mo’ would have suffered relegation without her, but they certainly would have had a tougher path to safety. An unbelievable contribution, to a magical season, a player with impeccable vibes.
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