Jack plans a real shock in store for his hero Gerrard

THE location of his childhood field of dreams may have varied from school pitch to back garden. But the identity of the idol Jack Fitzwater hoped to one day emulate remained constant.

The Livingston defender grew up pretending to be Steven Gerrard, who first came to his attention when scoring a spectacular goal for England in a 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Germany in Munich in 2001.

Another favourite long-distance strike he admired was when the Liverpool captain took the 2006 FA Cup final with West Ham to extra-time with a last-gasp blockbuster.

But this afternoon, the Livingston defender is hoping to become persona non grata in the eyes of his boyhood hero.

Fitzwater was outstanding last season as David Martindale’s Lions became the only team domestically to keep a clean sheet against the unbeaten Premiership champions with a 0-0 draw at the Tony Macaroni Arena last August.

As the Ibrox side begin their title defence at home today, Fitzwater (right) is hoping Livingston can go one better and inflict a rare defeat upon Gerrard’s side.

‘Steven Gerrard was probably every young English boy’s idol,’ he declared.

‘When you were growing up playing football in the school playground or in the back garden, you always pretended to be him.

‘I’m not a Liverpool supporter but he was a hero for all young English lads growing up.

‘The goal he scored against Germany in the 5-1 win for England sticks in my mind. As does the one he grabbed for Liverpool against West Ham in the FA Cup final in 2006.

‘It was great to come up against him last season with Livingston and to shake his hand.

‘But we have got a job to do and, hopefully, we can go there and upset him on Saturday.

‘Rangers now have a target on their back because of what they achieved last season. We were the only team to keep a clean sheet against them (in the league) and we have to take heart from that. We’ve done it before, so we can do it again.’

Rangers will have 23,000 fans at today’s game but the Ibrox club has chosen to delay unfurling the league flag until Motherwell visit on September 18 in the hope the ground will be full to capacity.

For Fitzwater, the long-awaited return of fans gives Livingston the chance to see how the home support would react to their team going a goal down.

He said: ‘We went through the whole of last season with no fans at Ibrox or Celtic Park, so it will be different this time. Actually, I haven’t played in front of any fans since coming to Scotland, so I am looking forward to it.

‘And if we can get off to a good start, then perhaps having fans at Ibrox could work in our favour. Maybe they would put pressure on their own team.

‘Everyone expects Rangers to win, so if we score, then the fans could get on top of them and it would play into our hands a bit.

‘We have to try to shock them. We played some good football against Rangers last season, and if we take that into this match then hopefully we can get something. But we need to try and frustrate them for as long as we can.

‘Obviously, it will be a tough ask because they are champions for a reason. But we must go there and give a good account of ourselves.

‘We have to respect Rangers — but not fear them.’

Livingston have two consecutive top-six finishes under their belts but have the smallest budget in the Premiership.

They have been tipped to finish bottom by many but Fitzwater believes that Martindale’s side can be a surprise package once again.

He added: ‘We have a good group of lads here but know we will probably be dark horses. It’s up to us to ride that wave and hopefully go unnoticed again.

‘We didn’t have the best of starts last season but we went on a really good run and we’re hoping for more of the same — and even better this time.’