Steven Davis tips Ross McCausland to play key role in Rangers' Scottish Cup dream

Steven Davis believes Ross McCausland can play a key role for Rangers in Saturday's Scottish Cup final against Old Firm rivals Celtic. The 21-year-old has forced himself back into manager Philippe Clement's thoughts with two goals in his last two games for the Gers.

Celtic hold the bragging rights over their Glasgow rivals so far this season, and with the Scottish Premiership already in the bag they have their sights set on a 'double'. Rangers though can complete a League Cup and Scottish Cup 'double' themselves with victory at Hampden Park.

Davis is expecting a closely-fought encounter between the two and feels that McCausland can provide a spark for the Light Blues to finish the season on a high. "I saw the manager saying he thought Ross was getting back to what his best level was and he has certainly made an impact with his goals and assists after starting the last few games," said Davis.

Read next: Irish League awaiting imminent announcement on funding believes Coleraine chairman Colin McKendry

"I think he can certainly cause Celtic problems. There will be interesting battles all over the pitch. Those wide areas are key. I think Ross has done really well [this season]. Obviously he has grasped his opportunity and when Philippe came in early on you could tell that Ross would be a player he liked because of the way he plays and what the manager was asking.

"He has played in some really big games this season and that experience will be good for him. He has also made his debut for the international team and really the responsibility is on Ross to make sure he hopefully finishes the season on a high on Saturday and then does well with the Northern Ireland team in the games in June and then resets again and pushes himself in pre-season to make sure he keeps progressing."

Davis knows all too well that success in Glasgow is measured by who finishes top of the league. Rangers may have missed out this season but the former Ibrox skipper says he has been impressed with new boss Clement.

"Having had the chance to work with him for a short period of time I was really impressed with him from the first moment he came in," said Davis. "He has a presence about him which is a good thing, he’s demanding, he’s a workaholic and obsessed with the game and the team did unbelievable results wise when he initially came in and then for a long period of time.

"They’ve had a little bit of a slip up recently which is disappointing but there have been a lot of things for him to contend with like injuries and been put in positions where he has had to change things which he wouldn’t necessarily want to do because of people being out injured and having to manage minutes and all that. It hasn’t been smooth but I certainly think he is the right man at the right place."

Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox