SCOTTISH CUP FINAL: Mark Ridgers explains why claiming his second Scottish Cup winners' medal against Celtic would be a dream come true
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Should Mark Ridgers happen to find a winners’ medal furled around his neck late on Saturday evening it is safe to say only wild horses could drag it from him.
Less so the first one the Inverness Caley Thistle goalkeeper was handed at Hampden Park.
Ridgers was clearing out a room at his Inverness home recently to make space for his newborn when he stumbled upon the gong he received after Hearts’ famous 5-1 Scottish Cup final triumph over Hibs in 2012.
An unused substitute on the day, Ridgers means no disrespect to his former club when he says a winners’ medal with Inverness would mean so much more.
Back then he was 21 and felt like plenty of big cup finals and Hampden occasions lay in store.
At 32, now six years into a stint with his hometown club, tonight’s showdown with Celtic is the kind of occasion he was beginning to believe had passed him by.
“Don’t get me wrong, the one in 2012 was incredible,” Ridgers stressed.
“I was only 21. To be a part of that occasion with the Edinburgh derby in the final was unforgettable.
“The atmosphere was brilliant and to win it was amazing.
“I got my medal, which I literally just found the other day. I was swapping rooms. Since the baby was born, I’ve had to juggle about the house and I found it alongside the very first medal I won in football, with Ross County under 14s.
“To have two winner’s medals would be amazing, but one this time would mean a hell of a lot more than that one.
“Looking out that day from the bench, watching it, I said to myself I’d love to play in that. At that age you really do think you’ll get another opportunity.
“Then time goes on and you think your chances have gone.
“To have the opportunity to play in a semi-final, just the opportunity to play at Hampden, was one I relished when we played Hearts (and lost 3-0) in my second season here, and against Falkirk this year.
“I’d been fortunate to play at all the SPFL grounds, but Hampden had been the only one I’d sat on the bench at.
“Growing up you watch Scottish Cup finals and having the opportunity to play in one is now there.
“You dream of this and I’m very grateful, fingers crossed, that I get the chance to play in one.
“If I am able to collect a winners’ medal this weekend, safe to say I won’t lose it in the spare room.
“They’re all going to be on display. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved so far in my career, but this would top it.”
When Caley Thistle, these days rooted in the Championship, won the trophy in 2015 Ridgers was on loan at St Mirren and soon to venture to the USA for a year with Orlando City where he rubbed shoulders with the legendary Brazilian Kaka.
Since joining the club in the aftermath of relegation from the Premiership in 2017, there have been 236 appearances, but never one as huge and heady as this.
“I’m buzzing and the dressing room is too. What an opportunity it is, “ Ridgers said.
“As I’ve said before when we played Hearts in the semi-final I thought that was my one game at Hampden in my career. Never did I dream of playing in a Scottish Cup final, especially for Inverness.
“Being from here it makes it that little bit extra special. I’m going to have my family and friends in the crowd so I’m really looking forward to it.
“I’ve achieved a lot more than I ever dreamed of in football. To top it off by playing in a cup final is great.
“The icing on the cake would be to win it, but we’re not daft,
“It’s going to be incredibly difficult against a top team. In the last couple of years they’ve dominated Scottish football and done well competing in Europe.
“To go out and win it we have to have nine and ten out of tens from everyone and hope they have an off day.
“Football throws up crazy results and we’ll need that, but we’re also going out there to win as much as they are.”
Ridgers was born and brought up in the Merkinch area of Inverness, a tough, neighbourly working class district proud of its football club Clachnacuddin, the team who opted out of the 1994 merger of town rivals Inverness Thistle and Caledonian.
With his early career and wife’s family’s loyalties also lying with Ross County, not everyone in and around the Ridgers’ clan would celebrate a shock win quite as heartily as him.
He does, however, know exactly what it would mean to Inverness and a majority of local football followers who have seen their team take a battering financially since dropping out of the top-flight.
“I’m not being disrespectful to the club, but if someone said when I signed I’d be playing in a Scottish Cup final, I’d not have believed them.
“The aim was promotion and we’re still trying to chase that.
“The disappointing thing this year was falling short of the play-offs, but this cup run has brought the city together again and that’s what you need.
“Kids are buzzing for it and there are people going to the game who don’t usually go.
“I wasn’t here when they won it in 2015, but I saw what it did for the Highlands. Those players are legends.
“My fellow goalkeeper Cammy Mackay was part of that squad, so was our goalkeeping coach Ryan Esson.
“They keep telling me every day what happened after they won and they didn’t think they’d see the club in another cup final for a long time.
“Eight years is quite a short period when bigger clubs have gone a lot longer without getting there.
“They keep reminding me of what happened so fingers crossed I could join that club as well and be able to talk about it for years to come.”
