The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Mixed emotions’ for Aird on Ibrox return
Dunfermline: Winger played for and supported Light Blues
Fraser Aird admits he expects “mixed emotions” when he returns to Rangers tonight seeking to help Dunfermline to a Betfred Cup shock.
The Canada internationalist grew up a Rangers supporter and went on to fulfil his dream of playing for the side.
The winger played 85 times and scored 12 goals for the Ibrox outfit as they rose back up the leagues following demotion to the Third Division in 2012.
But, having been rewarded with a fiveyear deal in 2013, Aird decided to cut his ties with the Light Blues after dropping out the first-team picture and he ripped up the remaining 18 months of his contract back in January.
The 22-year-old joined Falkirk but, with his time there struck with tragedy following the death of Rangers-supporting dad Bill, he was freed in the summer.
Fate takes him back to Govan this evening, after he penned a one-year deal with Dunfermline last week in time for tonight’s Betfred Cup encounter.
After making a disappointing debut in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Livingston, Aird is keen to make it a happy return to Rangers.
He said: “I think it will be mixed emotions for me, personally
“But I’m a Dunfermline player now and hopefully we can go to Ibrox and get a good result.”
Meanwhile, winger Joe Cardle hopes to make it an Ibrox hat-trick against Rangers tonight. The 30-year-old has played in the Govan ground twice and scored on both occasions.
The downside to each occasion is that the Pars lost both games. His header pegged Dunfermline back to 3-2 in a League Cup game in 2010, but they went on to be hammered 7-2, and the Fifers lost 2-1 because of an Alex Keddie own goal and a Nikica Jelavic penalty when he struck in a Premier League clash.
However, having pulled off one shock result already in the Betfred Cup, with the penalty-kicks success against Hearts in the group stage, Cardle is optimistic he can make a more meaningful contribution this evening.
He added: “The pressure’s on them, there’s no pressure on us. All eyes are going to be on them, their first domestic game at home and they’ll be expected to win.
“But it was the same situation at Hearts. They were expected to win that game but we fought hard and we were tough to play against.
“Right from the front we worked our socks off.
“To get results like that you need to do that and we’ll be willing to do that again.”