Central Girls and Falkirk prepare for Women's Scottish Cup fourth round ties

This stage of the competition sees all 20 SWPL and SWPL2 teams joining the 12 sides who emerged victorious from third round ties last month.

Biffa SWFL East/Central outfit Central Girls, famous for bringing through the likes of Sam Kerr, Leah Eddie and Fiona Brown, beat local side Stenhousemuir on penalties last year to set up a tie with SWF Championship side Rossvale.

That match takes place at Little Kerse on Sunday with kick off at 2pm.

Meanwhile, the Bairns defeated Giffnock 5-3 in their third round tie and they have been handed a glamour match against the cup holders Celtic.

Fran Alonso’s team currently sit third in the top tier, three points behind leaders Glasgow City.

That match takes place at the Falkirk Stadium on Sunday with kick off at 12.30pm.

Falkirk preview

Falkirk coach Craig Tully says his girls can “go out and enjoy the occasion” against Celtic.

"You need to play a big team at one point,” he said. “You want to avoid them if you can and of course we are never going to win the Scottish Cup, but you want to go a couple of rounds into it. I would have liked an easier tie for sure at this stage but it is what it is.

"The girls need to just go out and enjoy the match. I have said to them already that for the younger ones, if they want to make a career out of football, then they need to learn from this game and see what it takes.

"It will be a good learning curve for younger ones and a massive challenge in general. I know Celtic have their under-18s Glasgow Cup final on Saturday, so it won’t be a case of them playing a weaker team.

"I am expecting them to play a team that Fran would put out against City or Rangers. So it is going to be a tough afternoon and having watched them, it is of course going to be difficult against international-level players.”

Central Girls preview

Central Girls’ coach Ian Dibdin admitted he is “realistic” about his side’s clash with Rossvale.

"We didn’t even start in round one proper,” he said. “We started in the preliminary rounds because of our current divisional status, which we are happy with, and we are punching well above our weight by a million miles. Our team is more of social team and we have girls that are playing for fun; some have kids, some have work jobs with mad shifts, some miss out every other week due to other commitments.

"They all love football but they can’t commit to being in that sort of semi-pro/pro space. We caught Stenny out because we can play, we may not be as fit but we have some very good players. This is a massive bonus for us.

"We would have liked to go out of the cup with a big, big tie but it wasn’t to be. I know Rossvale well and they are a good team but we will go out and give it out best shot.”