Rangers winger Ross McCausland is in line for a first ever senior Northern Ireland cap with manager Michael O’Neill full of praise for an ‘exciting young player’.
A VAR review might have denied the winger a maiden Rangers goal during Sunday’s 2-0 triumph over Livingston, but take nothing away from the sheer quality of Ross McCausland’s finish. Rattled into the roof of the net with searing finesse, it was the mark of a young man brimming with confidence.
And a man brimming with confidence he most certainly should be, the fearless McCausland acing every question that is being asked of him under Philippe Clement.
A senior Northern Ireland appearance during the November international break, meanwhile, will be a fitting reward for a string of exhilarating performances in Rangers blue.
Ross McCausland shining at Rangers
“I’m pleased he has made the breakthrough,” Northern Ireland boss O’Neill tells the Daily Record. “Because it can be difficult for a young player at a club like Rangers.
“He’s an exciting young player. He just has to continue in the vein of form that he’s in. Certainly a change in manager seems to have helped him and he’s making the most of it. It’s up to him now, really. Can he stay in the team at Rangers?
“Once you have that first-team experience you gather belief in yourself. He’s not a boy who is short in confidence anyhow, so it’s good to have him in. He’s a confident lad who can add something.”
20-year-old McCausland was scintillating again in Livingston, having impressed off the bench against Sparta Prague in the Europa League three days earlier. Whisper it, but Rangers might not need to break the bank in order to solve that long-running right-wing issue.
Provided McCausland puts pen to paper on a new contract that is.
“We’ve known Ross right through (the various youth ranks). And we had him with the senior camp in the summer,” O’Neill adds. “There’s not a young player in the system that we don’t know well, and Ross is one who has been around for a number of years. From the academy right through the Under-17s, Under-19s and Under-21s.
“He is a very talented boy.”
