THE road from New Hampshire to Peterhead via Dumfries is one that’s certainly less-travelled. It is the route, however, taken by Kevin Dzierzawski, the erstwhile Ivy League college student, now turning out in the third tier of Scottish football.
Presumably this was not the path the American would have envisaged taking during his days at the prestigious Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, but now ensconced in the north-east of Scotland he seems rather content at the thought of staying there.
Days like this afternoon presumably make it all worthwhile. Jim McInally’s Peterhead side travel to Ibrox to take on Rangers in the first round of the League Cup and the 24-year-old Dzierzawski hopes to be involved.
He has prior experience of the stadium, having being part of the Queen of the South team that went down 4-2 there last season. College sports in the United States have a tendency to draw large crowds but Dzierzawski still insists Ibrox is the benchmark in terms of his own personal football experiences.
“I had the pleasure of going there last season with Queens and I can’t say I have experienced anything like it,” he said. “It was something I will never forget. College football is big in America but the fans are nothing like over here. I have never played in front of that many before. Most college stadiums hold anywhere from 5,000 to a maximum of 10,000 so to be at Ibrox where there were over 30,000 fans was an incredible experience. Hopefully I can replicate that this weekend and maybe even better it with a win, we will see.”
Peterhead presumably doesn’t feature in too many American dreams but Dzierzawski is happy to be there after failing to break through at Palmerston. “I wasn’t in the plans at Queen of the South and I wanted to be playing football regularly – the same as every footballer. So I saw Peterhead as an opportunity to start enjoying my football again and I have been. I just hope I can stay healthy and do as well as I can.
“I would like to stay in Scotland for a while but it’s somewhat out of my hands – it depends what the SFA think about it. But the work permit went through at Peterhead so I don’t have to worry about that for two years.”
Rangers’ 6-2 defeat of Hibernian did not go unnoticed at Balmoor but the Peterhead players and management are still relishing the challenge ahead.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” added Dzierzawski. “I know a lot of the guys who were on the team when they beat Rangers a couple of years ago so they’re excited to be going back. We knew it was going to be challenging before they won 6-2. We have a few guys who would be keen to do well against Rangers, Jim McInally especially, so hopefully we put in a good performance for him.”
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