Ally Little is a straight-talking kind of woman.

Her rugby recollections are straight to the point too. "It was basically a case of being told 'ee canna play rugby wi' the lads ony mair cos ee've got boobs'," recalled the self-confessed tomboy with a chuckle. "I was greetin' but from there the women's team started up again."

That was some 20 years ago but her passion for the oval ball game remains undiminished. In the Muckle Toon of Langholm, Little has a muckle job on her hands. And, yes, she still feels like greetin' occasionally. Nobody said being the Scottish club game's first female head coach of a men's team was going to be easy, after all.

"I sat and planned a detailed training session, and researched online what I was going to do, and only four lads turned up," sighed Little, who stepped up to the plate in the summer after Davy Scammell stood down. "I was almost in tears. Seriously, it's hard to deal with."

This particular Little has a big heart, though, and her love for Langholm RFC is her driving motivation. The booming textile industry may have withered away but, in this proud, resilient town rugby clings on. This cherished club, the oldest in the Borders, dating back to 1871, has a rich and celebrated history. Little, and those loyal, passionate grafters behind the scenes at Milntown, are now striving to ensure it has a future.

"Gone are the days when everybody worked in the mills and finished on Friday lunchtime and were ready to play on Saturday," said the 33-year-old of those halcyon times when Langholm were crowned unofficial Scottish champions and the likes of Christy Elliot and British Lion Billy Steele regularly pulled on the blue of their country.

"It's not the good old days and we can't keep harking back to them. Yes, celebrate what we have done but we have to look at what we have now. Players are working out of town now, some go to university and never come back, we have shift workers who can only manage the odd weekend. I did genuinely fear we would fold and that's why I stepped forward. Getting a team on the pitch and keeping the club going is No.1 on the chalk board. This is not some girl power thing. I simply love rugby and this club."

This kind of passionate love affair is supposed to set the heart fluttering. Her first match in charge almost gave her a heart attack. "We played Hawick Quins [in the Borders Regional Shield] and we were running late," reflected Little, who earned half a dozen caps for Scotland Women during a playing career that began in Langholm and blossomed when she went to Liverpool University. "I was trying to carry the balls and water bottles and by the time we got there we had about 10 minutes of warm up and just got started. I felt like my heart was in my stomach and I had no idea how we would perform and where we were compared to the other teams. I didn't know if we'd lose 100-nil, whether we'd win or whether it would be close. The anxiety was quite difficult to cope with."

Langholm eventually did lose, 31-13, but another short trip up the A7 a few weeks later - for an RBS East Regional League 1 game with Hawick Linden - produced a morale-boosting maiden victory for the new regime. The heart took another pounding, mind you. "Everybody may have written us off," she said of the 24-15 triumph. "Some may have thought 'she's a woman and they'll lose every game'. Well, that day I could say 'at least we've won one'.

"I've been through all the emotions as a player; winning caps, winning leagues. This was different. I was standing on the touchline, my brain going a hundred to the dozen and this sickening heart beat, and wishing the players would do this and do that. When the final whistle blew, it was a collective sense of relief, first and foremost. We'd done it. The memory will stay with me for a long time. I had a tear in my eye to be honest … and there were a couple of sing-songs on the bus home."

Apart from these alcohol-aided warbles, Little is trying to get her charges singing from the same hymn sheet, both tactically and mentally.

Her experiences at the sharp end of the women's game, as well as her training as a PE teacher, have armed Little with a variety of tools as she tries to develop a more modern approach to a coaching role that was, perhaps, firmly rooted in the auld style of yesteryear.

"I'm trying to get them to understand the game as opposed to telling them what to do all the time," she said. "If I was doing that, I'd have no voice left. We're trying to ask them 'what would you do in this situation, why would you do it, is that the best option, what else could you do', that kind of thing. There's never been much in the way of game plans. I don't think Langholm has had anybody talk to them like this before. It's a change for them but it's a relatively young side and they are open to moulding a bit more.

"We want to get the young ones to develop and challenge the older ones, who do know a bit more, to take on roles and become more leading figures. We're trying to move on from the old school approach.

"I remember about two years ago, I was sitting in the stand watching them and thought, 'they're just not playing to a plan'. Someone said to me that I should give it a go and I just laughed it off. In my heart, I thought I could do it, though. I just never thought I'd get the chance."

Little has been welcomed into the scene with open arms. You'd like to think she's opening minds, too.

"One of the North Berwick lads thought I was the physio. He got a surprise," she said with smile.

Six games into the campaign, Langholm are sitting seventh in a 10-team division in which there is a sizeable gulf between the top-five and the rest. It is a challenge but, inspired by the trail-blazing exploits of her old team-mate Elaine Vassie, who became the first woman to coach a men's team in England when she took up the reins at ailing Manchester for a spell, Little seems to be relishing it.

"I'd love to do a season but if someone else came forward then I would step back," she said. "I'm not proud, I don't want the limelight. I'm doing it because I want the best for Langholm and I want to put something back into a club that gave me a lot. Last year, we nearly got relegated. If we're in a position come the end of this season where we're not fighting for survival, both on and off the pitch, that would do for me."

Little by Little, she may just get them heading in the right direction.