Cup Final Sunday: Rangers v Peterhead
We're on the road to Hampden ahead of the Petrofac Training Cup Final
More than 2,000 Peterhead football fans are traveling south to Hampden Park to cheer on their local favourites as they take on the might of Rangers in the Petrofac Training Cup Final today.
Follow all the Cup Final action with Northsound 1 as we as we travel the North-east to Hampden Park with the fans in the build up to the big kick off!
Follow live updates from the road to Hampden on Twitter @northsound1 and @northsoundnews.
We’ll have all the pre-match build up and excitement on-air from midday. Listen live or grab our mobile app.
It is, by some distance, the biggest game in the 125-year history of a club that was in the Highland League until 2000 and is currently sitting second top in Scottish League One.
In a true case of David versus Goliath, fewer than 19,000 people live in Peterhead while the Ibrox side are expected to enjoy a supporting crowd of more than double that at Hampden on Sunday. Despite the current odds showing the Balmoor side at 14/1 to win, while Rangers are clear favourites with odds of 1/8, the Blue Toon army remains undeterred and is set to make its voice heard at Scotland’s national stadium.
In the weeks leading up to the cup final, there has been a heightened sense of being part of a community in which something special is happening. Photos, scarves and strips can be found adorning shops and businesses throughout the town and locals have been voting in an online competition for their favourite public show of support. Nearly 900 votes were cast from as far afield as the United States, Germany, Romania and South Africa. Proud winners, with 45% of the total number of votes, was Genesis Personnel in the town’s Marischal Street.
Meanwhile, pupils at local primary schools in Peterhead and the surrounding area took part in a banner competition with all entries being taken down on the supporters’ buses for display at Hampden. Two of the banners will be taken into the national stadium and used by fans to cheer on the side.
Peterhead preview the biggest game in their history.
We caught up with the team at Montrose earlier in the week where the players were preparing to play a weeknight bounce game ahead of todays cup final.
Hear from assitant manager Davie Nichols and players Steven Noble and Rory McAllister.
Support for the Blue Toon has also been flooding in from well known faces. Scottish professional golfer, Jamie McLeary, who was born in Peterhead, was keen to send a good luck message to his hometown club.
The Challenge Tour player said: “I’m hoping Peterhead FC come out on top. Good luck to everyone and I’ll be keeping an eye on the result.”
Peterhead skipper and personality, Jimmy Buchan, has been another fan eager to add his support to the team. The star of BBC’s Trawlermen series is an avid Blue Toon follower and is confident that the players will rise to the big occasion.
Jimmy said: “Once again Peterhead is back in the spotlight for the right reasons with the Blue Toon in the cup final this weekend. I will certainly be cheering on our boys. The team has done exceedingly well to reach the final and we wish them all every success and look forward to what will be a great final – the Toon against the ‘Gers!”
Can you beat Ed’s journey to Hampden?
Peterhead FC’s place in the 2016 Petrofac Training Cup final has been 125 years in the making, something ardent fans have acknowledged, with some traveling hundreds of miles to watch history in the making.
One fan, though, is travelling further than most. Ed Reeves is embarking on a 7,780-mile round trip to watch the Blue Toon take on Rangers in the north-east side’s first national senior cup final!
Read the story of Ed’s Epic cup final journey here.
Special cup final honour for Peterhead fan
He is a well-known and much loved character among countless football fans having helped out his beloved Peterhead FC for more than 30 years.
Now 81-year-old Blue Toon stalwart Norman Crighton is being honoured for his decades of service with a unique Cup Final experience – leading out his team at the Petrofac Training Cup final against Rangers at Hampden Park tomorrow.
Follow live updates from Hampden on Twitter @northsound1 and @northsoundnews.
We’ll have all the pre-match build up and excitement from midday. Listen live or grab our mobile app.
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