GIVEN the longevity of goalkeepers, who knows how many caps Gemma Fay might rack up before retiring.

Yet to the Scotland captain, the subject is a matter of some indifference.

Tonight, against Wales at Tynecastle, the 29-year-old will play her 136th game for her country. Barring injury or loss of form, she should overtake the 141 international appearances of Celtic team-mate Pauline Hamill, who has retired from international football, and become Scotland’s most-capped footballer, male or female, next year.

Is this a source of great pride? Not really, it appears. “Becoming the most-capped player is not the target for me,” claims the Perth-born player. “Football is not an individual game, so the target for me is more about the team. I would rather make sure I’m playing well, which means I get a starting place in the side -- and that the team is playing consistently so we can get the results we need. Being the most-capped player would be a nice bonus, but if it was about the most caps I’d play an individual sport.”

There is no more wholesome advertisement for women’s football than Fay, who like the rest of the Scotland squad combines a full-time job with full-time training every evening.

“She’s a brilliant captain, the best you can have,” says the Scotland coach Anna Signeul. “Off the pitch she is very attentive to all the players and staff. On the pitch it is more difficult because she is the goalkeeper, but when we play we have 11 captains because all our players, even the youngest ones, take full responsibility.”

Signeul believes that Fay, like most goalkeepers, has improved with age. “She is stronger physically and more explosive, which means she is much better in the air and is more confident about coming off her line,” explains the Swede.

This time, Fay, who will be 30 in December, does not attempt to play down the accolade. She made her debut for Scotland against the Czech Republic in 1997 when she was just 16 years old, and reached her century of caps in a 2-1 victory over Russia two years ago.

“The difficulty I’ve had in my career,” she points out, “is that I made my debut so young and I’ve pretty much been the starting goalkeeper since. All the mistakes you have to make as a player to get better, I’ve had to do on the international stage -- and that hasn’t been easy.

“Now I know my strengths and weaknesses, and have worked on the mental side of my game so I can recover from mistakes a lot quicker. I’m really happy where I am now, and I hope I can maintain that consistency.”

Fay, like all the experienced players in the squad including Julie Fleeting (120 caps, but currently injured), has never played in a major championship finals. They have come close, but now that the old heads have been complemented by rising stars such as the Arsenal duo of Jenny Beattie and Kim Little, there are high hopes that Euro 2013 in Sweden is a realistic prospect.

Tonight’s match against Wales is the second in Group 4 for the Scots, who opened the campaign with a 6-1 thumping of Israel in Tel Aviv. Their main rivals are group favourites France, who have full points from four games after crushing the Israelis 5-0 in Troyes last night.

“What you are seeing now is the work the SFA and the clubs have done over a number of years in developing a player pathway and creating opportunities for younger players to be exposed to international football at age group level,” says Fay. “We nwow have a conveyer belt of young players coming in who have the confidence to fit straight into the team.”

Crucially, the goals are also being shared more evenly, whereas before there was a huge reliance on the prolific Fleeting. Of the 13 scored in the previous two matches, strikers Beattie and Jane Ross notched three apiece, with Little and Hayley Lauder each bagging two.

Beattie has been a revelation since switching to the front from full back. “She’s such a versatile and intelligent player,” confirms Fay. “Physically centre halves will struggle to deal with her in the air, which makes her a great long-ball target, but she is very technically gifted with her feet as well. She also has one hell of a shot on her.”

 

  • Kick off against Wales is at 7pm and tickets can be bought at the ground, priced £5 adults and £2 child/concession.