Stephen Craigan is "delighted" by Ross McCausland's emergence at Rangers with Northern Ireland "desperate" for a player like him to be a success for the national team.

The Ibrox winger's compatriot was filled with praise for the 20-year-old live on BBC Sportsound on 12 November as McCausland made an impressive first start for the Light Blues in the 2-0 win over Livingston.

The youngster won a contentious penalty in West Lothian and then slammed home what pundit Lee McCulloch called an "unbelievable" finish, only to see his first ever goal ruled out by VAR, and Craigan felt the senior Rangers players already showed complete trust in their junior teammate.

At 12.46pm McCulloch reacted live to the winger's disallowed strike and said: "It bounces just before he hits it and it's an unbelievable finish."

Then at half time Craigan said (1.01pm): "He's been excellent hasn't he, young Ross McCausland? I'm delighted because he's Northern Irish and we are desperate to have creative and flair players in our team because we are very rigid and organised, but we lack something at the top end of the pitch, someone with a little bit of imagination.

"He hasn't been in the whole 45 minutes but the moments where he has been in the game and had the ball James Penrice is backing off, he doesn't know whether to go inside or outside.

"Yes he's given the ball away a couple of times but the senior players have given him the ball as if to say, 'Go and get on with it, you go and work your magic, you go and do your stuff and we're round about you. If the ball turns over we'll recycle it and give it back to you'.

"It's been a really impressive 45 minutes."

More to come

Based on what McCausland has shown so far this season under Philippe Clement it seems certain that he will remain in contention for extended action going forward.

His full Rangers debut could have easily come before this weekend, but when it finally arrived he didn't disappoint as he was a prominent performer against Livi in a dominant first-half for the visitors.

Only VAR and some profligacy in front of goal from the likes of goal-scorers Cyriel Dessers and James Tavernier kept the 1-0 scoreline at the break that low.

McCausland's goal was harshly ruled out for a foul by Abdallah Sima in the build-up which both Mark Wilson and Michael Stewart disagreed with on BBC Sportscene.

And after Alex Lowry burst onto the scene two seasons ago only for his involvement to fizzle out over the next 18-months prior to his loan at Hearts some won't wish to get ahead of themselves.

But for now McCausland is proving to be a very encouraging element of the revival under Clement, and Craigan's hopes have already been answered with a first senior international call up arriving a day after the first club start.

In other Rangers news, one Light Blues star was blasted as "truly terrible" by an official club partner for what he did at the weekend.

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