UGO Ehiogu was only a player at Rangers for a year and during that time he was involved in just a dozen games.

But the English centre half endeared himself to followers of the Glasgow institution forever in his brief spell in Scotland.

His spectacular overhead kick in a 1-0 win over Celtic at Parkhead in 2007 was voted Goal of the Season by Rangers supporters and is still remembered fondly by them to this day.

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Ehiogu retired from playing after a lengthy career shortly after departing and is now the under-21 coach at Spurs where he has worked with current Ibrox loanee Dominic Ball.

Ball was unaware of the special place which his mentor holds in the hearts of the Rangers fans when he agreed to move to this country last summer. He only found out when he noticed a photograph of the acrobatic effort hanging on the wall of Auchenhowie.

The 20-year-old has become an important player for Rangers this season since being handed a role as a holding midfielder by his manager Mark Warburton.

He looks certain to feature in the semi-final of the William Hill Scottish Cup against Celtic at Hampden this weekend and is hopeful he can make as much of an impact in his Old Firm debut as Ehiogu.

“I didn’t know about his goal,” said Ball. “He kept it quiet when I was coming up. As soon as I got up here, I saw his picture on the wall. I have spoken to him about it. I was like ‘what happened here?’ Ugo said he keeps it under the radar. But I said ‘well done’ anyway.

“It was a bicycle kick. It was brilliant. Of course, I wouldn’t mind one of those on Sunday. But that’s if I get in the box!”

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Ball added: “I’ve seen clips and I have watched games. I am looking forward to it, it looks pretty good. You always see them on Sky Sports so I have watched a few. Rangers v Celtic is a massive event that everyone knows about and talks about and it is a great game.

“If the gaffer chooses me and puts me in there, like he did on Sunday, I will do my best. He has still got to make his decision. Everything has been going well, but we will see what happens.

“I have matured massively in the last eight, nine months. Living on my own up here and playing all these games has matured me. Having a game with this pressure under my belt, if I do play, will be brilliant.”

Ball played as Rangers defeated Peterhead 4-0 in the final of the Challenge Cup at Hampden on Sunday. He appreciates that playing Celtic will be a far more demanding outing, but feels that trip to the National Stadium will be invaluable.

“It is going to be similar this weekend,” he said. “It will be packed out. It was like a dress rehearsal going into this game. We have been in the changing rooms, played well and next week we will have to lift it. It was good for us.

“It is little bits of confidence that we have been picking up and going into the game on Sunday we will have the belief that we will perform like we have done and can win the game.”

Rangers are, despite their wins in the Championship and Challenge Cup this season, underdogs ahead of the meeting with the Premiership champions elect. Ball, though, feels it is important they play their natural attacking game if they are going to win and book a place in the final.

“We just play the way we play,” he said. “We have had hiccups through the season, but we have realised that when we had them it was because we stopped doing what we were doing. We always reiterate that we win and play well when we do what we do. That is what we are going to do on Sunday against Celtic.

“I think our team has stepped up when we have played against better opponents. When you do play a better opponent, you have got to lift your game. You look at the Dundee game, Kilmarnock, even against Hibs and Falkirk, it just shows you.

“Sometimes it is hard to beat an opponent at a certain level that is in front of you. You can play as well as you can, but if they are not pressing you then how can you do a quick one-two or a quick pass?

“When you have got a harder opposition that are pressing you and making it a tougher game, we all lift our game and play better. I think we will do that again on Sunday. We are looking forward to it.

“Rangers fans and all of us expect to win every game. That is how much belief and confidence we have got in our team. I still think there is a bit of pressure. But all the players have played in big games before. This might be the biggest but everyone has got to deal with it and go and do the job.”

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