Ross McCausland let his Rangers teammates down by getting himself sent off in the 2-2 draw against Aberdeen on Sunday.
The Light Blues played out a 2-2 draw with the Dons at Pittodrie on 13 April after Barry Ferguson made nine changes to the team that held Athletic Bilbao to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final tie on Thursday (10 April).
Ferguson’s decision to make wholesale changes to his starting line-up made sense as it only brought forward the inevitability of Celtic clinching the title while allowing him to rest his best players for the second leg of the Europa League tie in Spain on Thursday, 17 April.
While Rangers will be delighted to have overturned a two-goal deficit to earn a point, there is no denying that McCausland made life difficult for them by getting himself sent off for two bad fouls just 40 minutes into the game.
Ian Crocker hits out at McCausland
Some would have hoped to see McCausland use his first Premiership start since October to make a positive impression on Ferguson.
However, the Northern Ireland international was unbelievably disappointing even before his red card incident.
Minutes before he was given his marching orders, the 21-year-old played a first-time cross that not only failed to find its target, but also went well into the stands.
The moment that summed up McCausland’s performance did not go unnoticed, as Ian Crocker was seemingly lost for words to describe it on live commentary.
He simply dubbed the cross as ‘awful’ before moving on.
Speaking live on Sky Sports Football, Crocker said (13 April, 12:41 pm): “McCausland, first-time cross, awful!”
McCausland leaves Rangers in trouble
Aberdeen were already leading by a goal when McCausland was sent off. It took them just four minutes after Rangers went a man down to double their lead.
Ferguson and Co. looked doomed after that, but an early second-half goal from Hamza Igamane pulled them straight back into the game.
To Rangers’ credit, they stunned the Pittodrie crowd by grabbing an equaliser through Ianis Hagi just seconds before the full-time whistle.
There is no denying that McCausland put his teammates in big trouble, and it would not be a surprise if he does not play for the Scottish Premiership giants ever again.
