Article by Sean Wozencroft

This coming weekend could well be the most memorable in the career of Bluebirds midfielder Gavin Rae who is completing his first season with Cardiff City after being signed from Rangers last summer. The Scottish International, who has been recalled by his country for the friendly International against Croatia at the end of this month, is aiming for an F.A. Cup winners' medal against Portsmouth at Wembley on Saturday in what will be his second Final. He was with Dundee when they reached the Scottish Cup Final in 2003, losing 1-0 to Rangers whom Gavin later joined.

The move to Cardiff City has certainly paid off for Gavin - last season he played in only ten of Rangers' thirty-eight Scottish Premier League matches, and seven of those were from the bench with only three starts, and he is pleased at the way it has turned out for him this season - "Maybe I didn't believe when I came to Ninian Park that it would go as well as it has. But I was looking to play in as many games as possible and I've done that. The extras have come through our Cup run, but the main thing for me was to have regular first-team football after not really getting a chance at Rangers last season. So the most important thing for me has been to play in nearly every game, and now to be involved in an F.A. Cup Final is an added bonus."

Gavin has in fact played in all but one of our 46 Championship matches, 4 Carling Cup games, and 5 F.A. Cup ties - a total of 55 appearances, 5 of which have been as substitute. His only "absence" was for the 3-3 draw at Burnley on April 26th when he was non-playing substitute.

As for any worries about playing at Wembley in an F.A. Cup Final, he believes that having already been there and succeeded in the semi-final will help sooth any nerves - "We went through all the stuff that goes with it before the semi-final, so now we can go there and just enjoy the game. The aim was to get to the Final, and that was a huge step. Now that we're there, we can enjoy being involved, play as well as we can, and give anyone a game on our day. Portsmouth are bound to be favourites, playing in the Premiership, they've had a good season despite recent results, and they've got a good squad. But when we went to Middlesbrough we were underdogs and on that day we were brilliant. If we can repeat that sort of standard, you never know what could happen."

The Scottish International is one of three Scots in our squad together with Kevin McNaughton and Steve Thompson, so will Scotland be behind us on Saturday? - "Hopefully, with Kevin and Steve plus myself in the squad they will be. There's been a lot if interest from the Scottish media."