'Everyone's gutted' - McCausland on Rangers title frustration

Ross McCausland has been speaking ahead of Rangers' trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts in the final league match of the season.

Here is everything he had to say.

How influential has Philippe Clement been for you?

He's been massive. When I first came in, it was probably the biggest part he played in terms of giving me a chance and speaking to me. When I first came in he just said, 'Keep doing what you're doing' and that's something I was looking to do. It obviously worked out, I've got a lot of big starts in a lot of big games as well. Obviously, you see now with Robbie Fraser the other night, Cole McKinnon as well so it's amazing to see teammates that I've played with for four, five years, being on this journey with them and sharing a pitch with them all at the same time, it's amazing.

Can you believe the progress you've made in the last 12 months?

It's a bit crazy when I look at where I am now. The game the other day was my 28th in the league. I've played in Old Firms, I started that game and even Real Betis, I would probably say that's one of the biggest games I've played in in terms of the atmosphere and the quality of players you're playing against. To be where I am now and looking back on the games I've played in, it's amazing.

Do you see yourself as the standard bearer for the Academy boys?

That's something I said a few months ago when it was starting to feel a bit more normal. Everyone was still looking at me and judging me as a young player but I think it's at the point now where I'm being judged as another first-team player which is good as well because ultimately I want to be having the same outputs as the rest of the boys. I want to affiliate myself in this starting team for many years to come.

What can a Scottish Cup win do going into the summer?

Coming off the back of getting a trophy earlier on in the season was probably another thing I didn't think I would have so early. Obviously, me and all the boys are disappointed we didn't win the league but we've two big games coming up and we want to finish strong.

Can it be a boost psychologically if you were to win the Scottish Cup?

We're ambitious and we want to win every trophy we can and we have the chance of winning another trophy so it would be good going into the summer holidays looking back on two trophies and the season we've had.

What have you seen over the previous Old Firm games that gives you the belief you can beat them?

We always have belief going into these games. We always believe we can win in every single game we go into. Football's a funny game and things might not go your way but I think the way we've started the past few games, I would probably say we just make it difficult for ourselves. We're coming into half-time and we're losing, that's not what you want to be doing. You want to be putting teams on the back foot and getting an early goal.

The manager was angry about that on Tuesday night, did that message get through to the players?

It's understandable. Coming in after I scored to make it 2-1, I think that's a wee bit of a game-changer in terms of momentum in the game but he's understandably annoyed. The goals we conceded are just not good enough. They're so avoidable, that's probably the more annoying thing.

Do you guys feel like cup final places are up for grabs?

Yeah, definitely. We know the cup final's around the corner and there's going to be limited spaces available with a lot of players coming back as well. I think it's just what you do from now on. There's still a lot of days of training and a game tomorrow to show why you should be in the starting spot.

How do you reflect on the season as a whole for the team?

We're disappointed not to win the league. That's a no-brainer, everyone's gutted that we didn't do that but to win the trophy early on and hopefully, finish as strong as we can, then we'd all be happy.

Has there been a moment since Wednesday where the manager or captain has spoken to the group about missing out on the title and how you remedy that next season?

No, it's not something we're going to dwell on. We know we have two big games coming around the corner so it's not something we want to sit on and have our heads down. We want to try and pick ourselves back up and focus on the next two games we have.

Is it not a chance to use the scenes from Wednesday as motivation for next season?

Yeah, every season we want to win the league but that's not possible every season. Going into next season, we'll want to win the league, that's not going to change and I don't think anything changing throughout the season's going to change our mindsets coming up to that.

What's the biggest thing you've learned this season?

I think coming into these games it's just trying to keep yourself composed. Whenever I went from the B team games into the first-team games, it's a lot more frantic trying to start the game on the front foot. I think trying to get that first touch and keep yourself composed makes your game a lot easier throughout the rest of the 90 minutes. It's just trying to make an impact early on.