Queen of the South face giants Rangers in Cup final (SN)

Stephen Dobbie may be a life-long Rangers fan but on Saturday he hopes to put them to the sword when he lines up for Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

The 25-year-old travelled to Manchester to cheer on the Ibrox side in the UEFA Cup Final.

Dobbie was disappointed his boyhood heroes lost 2-0 to Zenit St Petersburg but he is now aiming to pile on the misery by helping the First Division side achieve one of the biggest shocks in Scottish football history.

Queen of the South will be playing in their first ever Scottish Cup Final – after the Dumfries side beat Aberdeen 4-3 in the semi-final.

And although Dobbie loves the Ibrox club he would love nothing more than to deprive them of another trophy.

He said: “I went down to Manchester for the UEFA Cup with another couple of Rangers fans from Queen of the South and we were gutted at the result.

“But I'd take the same result as that game. There will be no love lost on Saturday and we'll be going all out for the win.

“If you get to a cup final it doesn't matter if you're playing Rangers, Celtic or East Stirling as long as you have a winners' medal round your neck at the final whistle.”

Although Rangers will be expected to be comfortable winners on Saturday, Queen of the South showed they cannot be underestimated with their famous victory over Aberdeen in the last round.

Dobbie feels that result has given the Dumfries team the belief they need to win the trophy.

He said: “Beating Aberdeen gave us a lot of confidence. Every time they scored, we scored another one.

“It would be fantastic to have a repeat of that game but I'd take an own goal from David Weir in the 90th minute if it meant we won the cup.

“The final is a one-off game and we'll go for the win. St Johnstone took them to penalties in their semi final and we beat Aberdeen so there's no reason why we can't beat Rangers.”

With Rangers having already qualified for next season's Champions League, Queen of the South will play in next season's UEFA Cup even if they lose the final.

Some people believe the European spot should have gone to the team finishing fourth in the Scottish Premier League but Dobbie believes they deserve their chance.

He said: “It's unfair to say we shouldn't qualify for the UEFA Cup. We earned our place in the final by beating Dundee in the quarter-finals and then Aberdeen.

“We've shown our determination so I think we deserve our chance to play in the UEFA Cup.”

Before Rangers' UEFA Cup final defeat they had been aiming for an historic quadruple haul of trophies – with the Scottish League Cup already won.

However a 2-0 defeat at Aberdeen on Thursday in the last round of Scottish Premier League matches meant they conceded the title to Celtic, who beat Dundee United 1-0 thanks to a goal by Dutch striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

The Ibrox side will be desperate to end the season by lifting the Scottish Cup to take away some of the pain of their UEFA Cup and SPL setbacks, meaning they would be the proud holders of two domesteic cups, having won the League Cup earlier in the season.

French forward Jean-Claude Darcheville said: “I really wanted to win the UEFA Cup but winning the Scottish Cup would be a great way to end the season.”

Saturday

Scottish Cup final (1500 GMT)

Queen of the South v Rangers