As a child, Stephen Dobbie probably lost count of the number of times he watched blue ribbons tied on to a trophy. For a Rangers-mad youngster, the Nineties was a great era to support the club. On Saturday, however, Dobbie believes that the blue ribbons will bear a different name, and so will the Scottish Cup.

The 25-year-old Queen of the South striker is the biggest threat to Walter Smith’s side at Hampden Park. He is a big-game player, with a temperament to match, even if he never managed to represent Rangers in a first-team game in the four years he spent at Ibrox as a teenager.

Dobbie still insists that he “lived the dream” by pulling on a Rangers shirt in reserve games and making his family, who are all fans, proud, yet he could easily come back to haunt his old club in this intriguing final.

Dobbie is a footballer who lost his way; who went from rubbing shoulders with Barry Ferguson at training, to playing in front of 500 souls for Dumbarton in the Irn-Bru Scottish League third division. Now his stock is rising again, just like Queen of the South, and he is the perfect symbol for the first division side to prove that by upsetting the odds and leading them to their first significant honour in their 89-year history.

“I realised a lot of things about myself when I was at Dumbarton,” Dobbie, who has scored 24 goals in just 51 appearances for Queen of the South since joining them from St Johnstone in January 2007, said. “I went there on loan because I had been out with an injury at St Johnstone and needed games to get fit. Gerry McCabe had just taken over as manager of Dumbarton and he was the assistant manager when I had been at Hibernian.

“I really enjoyed my time at Dumbarton and maybe I’ll go back when I’m older, but I remember going to places like Stenhousemuir on a Wednesday night and thinking, no disrespect to Stenhousemuir, that I should be playing at a higher stage than this. Gerry was also on at me, saying that I should not be at that level.

“It taught me, however, that full-time footballers are lucky. At Dumbarton, I was sharing a dressing-room with part-time guys who turned up for training from their work on a building site. They are doing that for the love of the game and I took it all for granted.

“I loved being at Rangers. I have been a fan all my life and it was an honour to have pulled on that blue shirt, even if it was just in reserve games. I never made a first-team appearance but I was turning up for training every day and playing alongside world-class players, including Barry Ferguson, who is one of the best Scottish players we have produced.

“My family were proud. My dad watched me in every youth and reserve game. He and my granddad took me to Ibrox to watch Rangers when I was a kid. Ally McCoist was my hero and one of the best strikers to pull on a Scotland or Rangers shirt. Dick Advocaat signed me but, for a young boy, it was hard to break through at a time when Rangers were spending so much money buying players, especially strikers.

“They paid more than £12 million for Tore Andre Flo and they also had Billy Dodds, who is actually our striking coach at Queen of the South and has taught me a lot about the role since he came to the club.

“Alex McLeish let me go in 2003 and wished me all the best. I had a year left on my contract but Bobby Williamson wanted to take me to Hibernian and, at 21, the appeal of first-team football was too strong. Some of my youth-team colleagues at Ibrox, such as Chris Burke and Allan McGregor, have become established first-team players but that does not happen to everyone.”

Ironically, Dobbie had been at Easter Road for only eight months when he came back to haunt Rangers. He struck a stunning equaliser for Hibernian in the 2004 CIS Insurance Cup semi-final at Hampden Park and scored in the penalty shootout as the Edinburgh club’s youngsters proved too vigorous for veterans such as Frank and Ronald de Boer, who had the won Champions League together.

Sadly, the capricious nature of youth meant that a Hibernian side overflowing with talent – including Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Whittaker, Derek Riordan and Garry O’Connor – that would one day fetch £10 million in transfers, failed to win the final against Livingston.

Dobbie never fulfilled his potential at Easter Road, either, and switched to St Johnstone in 2005 before moving on to Palmerston Park 17 months ago.

The Glaswegian’s goal against Dundee in the quarter-finals prompted a 2-0 win that inspired 10,000 fans to make the trip from Dumfries to Hampden for the semi-final against Aberdeen. Dobbie had to succumb to a hamstring problem after 40 minutes but his replacement, John Stewart, netted the winner in a remarkable 4-3 success.

Gordon Chisholm’s team have been resting since they played their last first division almost a month ago, in contrast to Rangers. “We have had a good break in Spain while Rangers have been playing three games a week for ages,” Dobbie said. “However, that is what happens in football when you are successful. We are not even thinking about losing. When you have waited as long for this final to be played, we will be gutted if it does not come off for us.”