Mark Ridgers felt his Hampden days were over – now he’s desperate to help steer Caley Thistle into the Scottish Cup final by beating Falkirk at the National Stadium.
As an unused substitute, the experienced 32-year-old shotstopper won a Scottish Cup medal as part of the Hearts squad in the 5-1 rout of Hibs in 2011-12.
In 2019, he played against Hearts for ICT in Hampden when they lost 3-0 to eventual runners-up.
This Saturday, Ridgers will be aiming to help the Championship club defeat League One runners-up Falkirk for the chance to play holders Rangers or Celtic in the June 3 final.
Inverness are in top form going into the clash, with seven wins and a draw meaning they’ll be in the promotion play-offs if they beat Ayr United a week on Friday.
This will be the Caley Thistle’s fifth semi-final in the competition they won in 2015 – where they beat Falkirk 2-1 in the final.
Hampden Calling 🔜
Full focus now on this Saturday's Scottish Cup Semi Final against Falkirk
Tickets and coach travel available online now from https://t.co/6z5nBMn9qE and from the Club Shop
Please note Ticket Collections must be made by 12pm on Friday from Caledonian Stadium pic.twitter.com/nzloxMJlFE
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) April 24, 2023
Confidence has risen with every win
And for ICT to be back on this stage is a chance to be seized upon according to the number one.
He said: “Everyone is buzzing for it, including myself.
“Reaching Scottish Cup finals when you are a club like Caley Thistle you wouldn’t think would happen too often – this is our second semi-final in four years, so they don’t come around quite often!
“The semi-final against Hearts in 2019 I felt would be my last opportunity to play in such a game at Hampden.
“It’s going to be a great occasion, having the chance to reach the final. Falkirk will be thinking exactly the same.
“It’s a unique situation for both teams find themselves in. At the start of the season, you would never have thought this was likely.
“A few weeks ago, everything was out of our hands. Now, we can reach the Scottish Cup final and make the play-offs when that looked highly unlikely.
“As a team, we knew we could get to this point. Once you start winning a couple of games, confidence and belief grows.
“In the past three games (against Cove Rangers, Hamilton and Dundee), we’ve gone a goal down and we’ve won two and drawn the other.
“This match could be once in a lifetime for some of our players. We’re not the underdogs and this is a winnable game for us.
“We have to be switched on, on the ball and be prepared for what Falkirk are going to give us.”
Spiders’ shock let Inverness back in
Inverness lost 2-0 to Championship rivals Queen’s Park in January’s cup-tie, but were handed a reprieve when the Spiders were expelled for fielding an ineligible player.
Once back in, they thumped Premiership Livingston 3-0 in West Lothian before beating top-table opponents Kilmarnock 2-1 in Inverness in March.
Ridgers, who has a club-record 81 clean sheets, feels the side have earned their place in this mouth-watering showdown.
He said: “Listen, we were fortunate with what happened with the Queen’s Park incident, but from that point we took our opportunities.
“We put on a brilliant performance to beat Livingston and again to beat Kilmarnock. When it came to the crunch, we have earned the right to be here.
“We will give it our best shot to reach the Scottish Cup final. We don’t want to think beyond Saturday, but reaching the final is achievable.
“Our players, management and staff all believe we can do it, but Falkirk will be thinking the same.”
Hampden chance is rare for players
Falkirk have sold more than 8,000 tickets and ICT have not reached half of that in terms of ticket sales.
A Saturday 12.15pm kick-off for a game live on BBC Scotland won’t help matters for the north club.
However, Ridgers rubbished some suggestions the match should have been taken to a venue with a smaller capacity to boost the atmosphere.
He said: “A few people have been giving us stick because we won’t have a crowd in terms of numbers.
“As players, we want to play at Hampden in a national cup semi-final. I can’t wait to go there and try and win and to hopefully get one more shot by reaching the final.
“I do understand why people are saying it should not be at Hampden because of the (poor) atmosphere, but this is a Scottish Cup semi-final. No disrespect to the Challenge Cup, but this is the main cup and for players and fans, we want to be at Hampden.
“I’m very fortunate. I have been there a couple of times and I have a winner’s medal from being at Hearts and played for Caley Thistle in the 2019 semi.
“Some boys might never get that opportunity to ever play there again. I have known boys who have played football for many years and they never got this chance.
“You can’t take that way from players just because you’re not going to fill it out like an Old Firm or Hearts v Hibs game.”
Fans will play role and help the side
Ridgers is also backing ICT’s smaller number of supporters to still make a racket to help roar the team on to victory this weekend.
He added: “Whether we have 3,000 or 8,000 fans, they will be loud.
“Just look at our away games. In the last few fixtures, for example, the fans have been brilliant.
“They give everyone on the pitch a massive boost. That will be the same on Saturday. Hopefully it will be a great day out for our supporters and I have no doubt they will be heard.
“Falkirk will have the backing of the fans and their players will have to handle that.
“We have played against John McGlynn’s teams before when he was at Raith Rovers and we know what to expect.
“A few of their players (Brad McKay, Coll Donaldson and Kai Kennedy) used to be here as well, so we will be ready, but ultimately it does come down to what we do.
“Falkirk have had a good season and will be disappointed they never won the league. But they have finished second and they have got good players and they’ve got the play-offs to look forward to.
“We have to be on our game and give 110% and that’s not in question given the way the boys have been over the last while.”
🚗 @ICTFC's Road to Hampden…
Ahead of this weekend's Semi-Final at Hampden Park, take a look back at Inverness Caledonian Thistle's Scottish Cup journey this season.#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/mNBoA1Rszy
— Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) April 26, 2023
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