It’s a double for Edinburgh’s Hearts and Boroughmuir Thistle as Emma Brownlie and Courtney McAvoy collect the January 2022/23 Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) Player of the Month awards.
Brownlie becomes the first Heart of Midlothian player to win the award since February 2019. Rachel Walkingshaw was the winner when Hearts were in SWPL 2.
The defender started in all three matches in January where they faced Rangers, Aberdeen, and Celtic. The Jambos picked up four points including an impressive 0-0 draw at home to Rangers and a 1-0 away win against Aberdeen. Brownlie’s well placed free-kick was the difference at the Balmoral Stadium.
Brownlie has been a key part of Hearts’ success this season at the back, conceding just 18 goals from 18 games. In comparison, the Jambos conceded 66 goals in 27 games last season.
In SWPL 2, Courtney McAvoy becomes the first ever Boroughmuir Thistle winner of the award. Two players have been nominated in the past for the club, Tegan Browning (November 2020) and Samantha Duncan (September 2021).
McAvoy had scored four goals before January, adding five goals to her season tally in the month alone. This included the only goal in their 2-1 loss to Kilmarnock, the equaliser in their 2-2 draw away to East Fife, and a hat-trick in their 3-2 win over Montrose.
With McAvoy’s goals, Boroughmuir Thistle picked up seven points from a possible 12 including victories over the current top two sides in Montrose and Gartcairn.
The nominees for the January SWPL award were Amy Gallacher (Celtic), Danni McGinley (Dundee United), and Hannah Stewart (Aberdeen) and for the SWPL 2 award the nominees were Abby Robinson (Kilmarnock) and Morgan Steedman (St Johnstone).
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
