Queen’s Park boss Callum Davidson could not bear to watch when Rangers were awarded the penalty that Calum Ferrie saved near the end of a stunning 1-0 Scottish Cup win over Rangers.
The Championship side were leading in the fifth-round tie at Ibrox through a goal from substitute Seb Drozd in the 69th minute when the Light Blues were awarded a spot-kick deep into added time for a foul on substitute Cyriel Dessers.
Ferrie sprang to his left to beat away the effort from Gers skipper James Tavernier but there was a wait before VAR confirmed he had not left his line too early, before the visitors held out for a famous win and a place in the quarter-finals.
Davidson, who watched from the stand after being sent off against Airdrieonians last week, said: “I think my hood was over my face at that point and when VAR called it back for the check on the infringement for Calum I thought ‘oh no, not again’.
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“We had a couple of poor decisions last week hence why I was in the stand – for penalties and sendings-off.
“But overall you have to enjoy these occasions. It doesn’t happen very often, especially for Queen’s Park, but enjoy it and enjoy getting through to the next round.
“Absolutely delighted. We worked really hard for it. We tried to frustrate the game for Rangers.
“We had a shape and system to frustrate them. First half we could have done a little better with the ball but in the second half, the longer the game went on mistakes creeped in and we managed to capitalise with a really good goal from Seb, then at that point it was about hanging on.”
Asked how it measured up with the historic achievement of winning both domestic trophies as St Johnstone boss in season 2021, he said: “Nothing will ever compare to winning the two cups in the same season but results like this go a long way to make you enjoy football and make you want to be in the business.
“It’s tough when you hit the other side, I’ve been there as well.
“Some people say try and not get too high when you have good times but I disagree with them. I will just enjoy it because you are there to quickly get criticised.”
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Keeper Ferrie, who made several crucial saves even before his penalty heroics, admits he had to wrestle with his mind before he opted to dive the right way – to his left.
He said: “I changed my mind. I thought, ‘oh no, he’ll go right’, and then I thought, ‘oh no, he’ll go left’ and then I thought, ‘oh no, he’ll go right’, and again, ‘oh no, he’ll go left’, and I got away with it in the end.
“I probably can’t say what my feelings were when it was going to VAR, because I didn’t know if I was on the line or off the line, but we got away with it.
“You can’t write a story like that so I’ll remember it for a long time, for sure.”
