Rangers 0 Queen’s Park 1: Gers knocked OUT of Scottish Cup in historic shock as Ferrie heroics seal stunning triumph

QUEEN’S PARK shattered a 143-YEAR record to leave Philippe Clement facing the sack. 

Scotland’s oldest club hadn’t beaten Rangers in a Scottish Cup tie since 1882.

They hadn’t beaten the Light Blues in any competition since 1948.

But super sub Seb Drozd and hero keeper Calum Ferrie combined to rewrite the history books on an astonishing afternoon no Spiders fan will ever forget.

Drozd’s stunning winner was in itself something to savour. 

But ask any Queen’s fan and they’ll tell you Ferrie’s dramatic stoppage time penalty save eclipsed even that as James Tavernier was denied a last-gasp equaliser.

Make no mistake, this was Rangers’ worst ever cup defeat at Ibrox – one which Clement will struggle to come back from.

It’s 25 years since Caley Thistle famously went Ballistic across the city – then Celtic gaffer John Barnes paid with his job back then.

Old Firm managers DON’T survive cup shocks like this.

For Queen’s Park, they proudly march on to the quarter-finals – the first time they’ve reached this stage of the competition since 1982.

And it’s no more than Callum Davidson’s heroes deserve.

Throughout they were well drilled and well organised.

Rangers simply ran out of luck and ideas.

Time has now run out for Clement.

Celtic’s lead at the top of the table is 13 points.

Rangers’ title race is run.

While Europe’s still to come, the Scottish Cup represented Clement’s best hope of silverware this season.

No one would bet against yet another Hoops treble now.

At times this season the job has looked beyond the Belgian.

There was the early Champions League setback against Dynamo Kyiv.

There were damaging defeats to Celtic, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock in the league.

There was the catastrophic Christmas period which culminated in a 1-1 draw at Dens, a result which left the Belgian on the brink.

No this.

It’s just over a year since Davidson took charge of Queen’s Park.

He did so with the Spiders second bottom of the Championship.

Now sitting in fifth, they arrived dreaming of an Ibrox upset.

Clement made five changes to his line-up, handing Rafael Fernandes and Bailey Rice their first starts.

Kyle Hurst, on loan from Doncaster, started in behind lone striker Zak Rudden for the visitors.

At the break, Davidson couldn’t have wished for more. 

His players, while guilty of gifting Gers a series of guilt chances, had given their absolute all.

And, crucially, each time they’d landed themselves in bother, they found a way out.

To say it was frustrating the Ibrox crowd and manager Clement is something of an understatement.

Rangers should have been well ahead. But almost everything they did in a lackluster first half lacked urgency.

Their first chance fell inside the opening five minutes. Queen’s keeper Calum Ferrie’s nervy clearance landed at the feet of Mohamed Diomande.

The midfielder had a whole open goal to aim at, but somehow he dragged his shot wide of the target.

Following a well worked corner, Ianis Hagi blasted inches past the post as Rangers continued to make all the running.

Hagi did well down the left, picking out Diomande who’d taken up a good position inside the box.

He took it first time, forcing Ferrie into a fantastic reflex save.

Vaclav Cerny was next to threaten for the home side after he linked well with Nedim Bajrami.

But after bursting into the box, he too was thwarted by Ferrie.

Bajrami then attempted to beat Ferrie at the back post when the Albanian should have headed James Tavernier’s corner back across goal.

Then, with 34 minutes on the clock, a major let off for young Zach Machin.

His back pass went straight to Hamza Igmane who was too slow in trying to dig the ball out of his feet.

The Moroccan finally forced it into the path of Diomande who was never going to score from such an acute angle.

He should certainly have scored with just four minutes of the first half remaining.

Tavenier’s corner found Rice who picked out Diomande totally unmarked.

But with the goal gaping once again he somehow blasted wide.

Then, right on the stroke of half-time, Jack Turner rode to Queen’s Park’s rescue when he headed a Hagi effort off the line.

Rangers would need to up the tempo in the second half. 

Despite dominating possession, they had been well off the standard expected and it was no surprise to see Nico Raskin and Cyriel Dessers coming on for the start of the second half.

Rice and Bajrami were the ones to make way.

Igamane blasted high over after some neat build up play by Cerny created the first chance of the second half.

The natives were beginning to get restless.

Queen’s Park’s gameplan was working and Gers were becoming increasingly erratic.

With 55 minutes on the clock the visitors got forward for the first time in the match – Hurst coming so close to turning home Rudden’s cross. 

As the visitor’s confidence grew, Ibrox began to simmer.

With 20 minutes left tensions boiled over as Queen’s Park stormed ahead.

Drozd had only been on the park for three minutes when he took control of a Louis Longridge corner.

Ghosting past Jefte, he slotted a brilliant finish beyond Liam Kelly.

With just 20 seconds of five minutes of stopping time left, Rangers were awarded a penalty.

William Tizzard was judged to have fouled Dessers.

Of all the spot kicks he’s scored, this was the biggest kick of Tav’s Gers career.

But it wasn’t to be with Ferrie pulling off a remarkable save.

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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk