Twelve months in the past, Seb Drozd was barely a family title inside his personal 4 partitions.
Simply two minutes after stepping onto the pitch at Ibrox, he seared his moniker into the pantheon of Scottish Cup shock outcomes.
For the present cohort of Rangers supporters, the point out of Drozd triggers the identical type of unwelcome recollections as Sammy Reid and Adrian Sprott did for earlier generations.
Like Reid in 1967 and Sprott in 1987, match winners for Berwick Rangers and Hamilton Accies respectively within the Ibrox membership’s beforehand most notable calamities within the match, Drozd was the headline act of an historic afternoon.
For the 22-year-old striker, it was a textbook once-in-a-lifetime expertise. Or was it? Destiny has decided that, precisely a 12 months later, he may have the chance to relive it and maybe repeat it.
‘Unreal, man’ is how Drozd succinctly places it in dialog about Queen’s Park making the journey to Govan on Scottish Cup fifth spherical enterprise as soon as once more.
Goalkeeper Calum Ferrie leads the Queen’s Park celebrations at Ibrox final February
Goalscorer Seb Drozd struggles to soak up the magnitude of what he has simply achieved at Ibrox
Drozd’s purpose proved the distinction between the edges… and now he is dreaming of a repeat
Like everybody else of a Spiders persuasion, he thought it had slipped from their grasp after they misplaced out on penalties towards Stranraer at Stair Park final month.
Drozd and his team-mates have been reprieved when it emerged that goalkeeper Lyndon Tas, the shoot-out hero for the League Two aspect, had been ineligible for the tie after his mortgage signing from Hearts on the day of the sport.
Queen’s Park can genuinely empathise with Stranraer, having fallen foul of an identical participant registration blunder three years in the past after they fielded Euan Henderson in a fourth spherical win at Inverness and have been ejected from the match.
‘We’ve received slightly little bit of luck,’ admits Drozd, ‘and typically that’s what you want within the cup. We now get to go to Ibrox once more. We beat Rangers there as soon as, so why not do it once more?’.
Most of Drozd’s team-mates from final 12 months, together with boss Callum Davidson, have since moved on. The journeyman nature of the aspect which shocked Rangers, and precipitated the tip of Philippe Clement’s tenure as supervisor, is summed up by their present locations of employment.
Will Tizzard, Josh Scott, Kyle Hurst and Jack Turner, for instance, are all now enjoying within the fifth and sixth tier of English soccer at Sutton United, Darlington, Scunthorpe and Woking respectively.
One other of the heroes of 2025, nonetheless, will be part of Drozd in trying to show that lightning can strike twice.
Ferrie is mobbed by his jubilant team-mates after his late penalty save from James Tavernier
If Drozd’s 69th minute winner from his group’s solely try at purpose, shortly after he had come on as a sub for Hurst, will reside ceaselessly in Queen’s Park folklore, then so too will the staggering show of goalkeeper Calum Ferrie.
On a day when Rangers had 28 makes an attempt, Ferrie made 9 saves, a few of them actually distinctive and one among them massively vital as he saved out James Tavernier’s stoppage-time penalty.
It prompted a crestfallen Clement to look at that the 27-year-old had produced ‘the sport of his life’. Reflecting on it now, Ferrie doesn’t disagree.
‘When it comes to the magnitude of the sport and the way it unfolded, it in all probability was,’ mentioned Ferrie. ‘It’s actually one I’ll bear in mind for the remainder of my life.
‘However I in all probability performed higher towards Partick Thistle two rounds earlier after I made extra saves within the recreation after which in a penalty shoot-out.
‘To save lots of a penalty within the final minute at Ibrox, although, might be the dream state of affairs for a goalkeeper, aside from scoring a winner with a header up the opposite finish!
‘I used to be pissed off when the penalty was awarded, as a result of we had held out for thus lengthy and defended so effectively as a group. When VAR didn’t overturn the choice, my instantaneous response was to consider further time and the way lengthy a half-hour that was going to be for us. However I guessed the precise manner and the remainder is historical past.’
Rangers skipper Tavernier cannot imagine his misfortune as his miss seals an ignominious exit
Though Clement limped on for one more two weeks earlier than Rangers lastly sacked him, the writing had been on the wall for the Belgian coach in a season which had seen them fall 13 factors off the tempo being set by Celtic within the Premiership at that stage.
Rangers at the moment are on their third managerial appointment since then, together with Barry Ferguson’s spell as Clement’s interim substitute. After the disarray of their begin to the season underneath Russell Martin, the temper music at Ibrox is now far brighter underneath Danny Rohl.
Ferrie recognises that Rohl’s optimistic influence means Queen’s Park probably face much less susceptible opponents this time. Nonetheless, he believes a break from their very own struggles within the Championship relegation zone might show to be a galvanising issue for Sean Crighton’s aspect.
‘Rangers are in a greater place than they have been final 12 months, by way of being in a title struggle,’ added Ferrie. ‘However we all know how we will go there and make it awkward for them.
‘There isn’t any stress on Queen’s Park, as a result of we’ve had a variety of luck even getting right here after what occurred within the final spherical towards Stranraer.
‘The stress is on Rangers, in order that’s one thing we will hopefully get pleasure from and play with a little bit of freedom.
‘We’re enjoying underneath a variety of stress each week within the league with our place within the desk in the mean time, so it is a recreation the place the boys can neglect about that, categorical themselves and perhaps produce a efficiency which adjustments their careers.’
Former Rangers supervisor Philippe Clement survived the loss however departed Ibrox quickly after
The Queen’s Park gamers have confronted a excessive demand for tickets from household and buddies this week, with Ferrie wanting ahead to a uncommon go to from his older brother Gregor who’s a youth soccer coach in Utah.
‘He’s flying over from America for the sport,’ mentioned Ferrie. ‘He was very indignant with himself that he didn’t make it final 12 months, so he determined to spend the cash and are available over. He says if I don’t do the identical factor once more, I’ve to pay for his flights!
‘He was a greater participant than me once we have been children and I ended up changing into a goalie as a result of he was 5 years older and at all times made me go in targets so he might smash photographs at me.’
Ferrie, who has been a persistently glorious performer within the Championship over the previous few seasons, will in all probability have to be at his highest once more this afternoon if Queen’s Park are to defy the percentages and attain the quarter-finals for a second successive season.
If he can do his job, then he has a sneaking feeling that Drozd could be very a lot within the temper to supply the products on the different finish of the pitch.
‘Seb has been enjoying with actual confidence in current weeks,’ mentioned Ferrie. ‘He’s received just a few targets and assists. He’s a really gifted footballer with good technical capability, as he confirmed in that cut up second at Ibrox final 12 months.
‘It was a dream state of affairs for each of us final 12 months and hopefully he can higher it and perhaps even rating two this time.
‘It’s a recreation for all of us to be enthusiastic about. It’s the identical for these of us who performed final 12 months as it’s for the newer lads within the squad who’re enjoying at Ibrox for the primary time. I can’t wait.’
