The performance of Ross McCrorie as he patrolled a deep-lying midfield role for Rangers in the win over Aberdeen last Wednesday evening was so liberally punctuated with confident, sweeping passing, that you would never have known that less than two weeks prior to that night, the 19-year-old had wanted the Ibrox turf to open up and swallow him whole.

A woeful attempt at a passback to goalkeeper Wes Foderingham had only succeeded in giving Hamilton attacker David Templeton a clear run at goal, one which he duly took full advantage of to set Accies on their way to a shock win, their first at the venue on league duty for 91 years.

Such calamities, particularly in front of 50,000 disbelieving eyes, could be enough to finish the careers of those of fragile character. McCrorie, though, is made of sterner stuff.

The Scotland under-21 cap was immediately pulled out of his despair by a comforting word and an arm around the shoulder from experienced centre-back Bruno Alves, the man who he had kept on the bench that day. And from that moment on, he has never doubted his own ability to cut it for Rangers. Wherever he is asked to play.

“The Hamilton game was pretty disastrous to be honest,” said McCrorie.

“I didn’t enjoy it all but that’s what happens. There are going to be mistakes.

“When we came back into training on the Monday, Bruno sat me down and spoke to me. He said, ‘These things happen. It’s all about reaction - be confident’.

“Bruno told me that he’d done something similar and that made me feel a bit better. Mistakes like that are natural. It will make you a better player and you learn from it.

“Bruno told me to be confident in the next game and that’s what I did. I was thankful that he spoke to me.

“It means a lot coming from a guy like him, who has won the Euros.”

The deployment of McCrorie as a midfield destroyer by Graeme Murty flummoxed Aberdeen to such an extent that Dons manager Derek McInnes was forced into a late change to his line-up, only to revert to Plan A before half-time. By that point, Rangers were well in control, and McCrorie was bossing the centre of the park.

His experience playing there is remarkably limited given the way he handled his assignment in such a massive game for the club, and he will be more than happy if he finds himself in the engine room once again at Pittodrie this afternoon.

“I played in central midfield when I was on loan at Ayr and Dumbarton,” he said.

“I knew all the basics of the position. It was a wee bit different, but I felt great. I’ll play anywhere for Rangers.

“Murts just told me to sit in front of the defence and do the job like anyone else in that position. I was to get on the ball, play and win tackles.

“You don’t normally get young players in that position, but I am grateful to Murts for his trust and belief in me.

“I hadn’t actually played in midfield with him for the 20s. It was only when I went on loan but he saw me do okay and felt I could play in that position. He put me in and it was great.

“There were challenges because Aberdeen have great movement in and around the hole.

“He just asked me to shut them off, and let Ryan Jack, Jason Holt and Carlos Pena to play. I was to block Aberdeen – I was the wall in front of the defence.”

The move into midfield hasn’t been the biggest adjustment for McCrorie this season. That came with a graduation of sorts as he earned his spot among the top players at the club.

“I have fully moved into the first-team dressing-room now,” he said. “It happened after the Hearts game a few weeks ago. That’s me in amongst them now.

“Mark Allen spoke to me a couple of weeks before but I had to get approval from Jimmy Bell. He’s the one who decides when we move up, so I was just waiting on Jimmy to give me the nod.

“Straight after the Hearts game, he pulled me to the side and said ‘That’s you in the first-team dressing-room. Bring all your gear over’.

“I was buzzing. It was a big moment. There is a transition when you are a 20s player but once you move up, you feel like you are in the first-team.”

With such exposure at a club like Rangers comes a certain level of celebrity, and with glowing testimonies of his ability from former manager Pedro Caixinha still ringing in his ears, the 19-year-old could be forgiven if all of this sudden fame had changed him. When conversing with the unassuming Ayrshireman though. that seems highly unlikely.

“I don’t look too much into things and I don’t let it get to my head,” he said.

“Things are different when I am out and about, and people see me. They notice me now. But that’s part and parcel if you to make it as a footballer.

“I have had a few fans stop me. There has been nothing from Celtic fans, apart from when I am back home in Ayrshire – but that’s just banter as I know everybody.

“I never take anything for granted. I’ll push and I’d never be complacent. I’ll try my best and see where it takes me.”

As someone who has been steeped in Rangers all of his life, McCrorie knows all about the rivalry which exists between the Ibrox side and today’s opponents, and he is eager to give the light blue legions that follow them to the north-east something else to cheer about after the emphatic win in midweek.

“It’s not quite as big as the Old Firm, but it’s not far off it,” he said. “This is a huge game. Huge.

“I have never played at Pittodrie before, so it’s something new and I am looking forward to it.

“We believe in ourselves and feel that we can get the win. If we can play the same way as we did, then hopefully we can get another positive result.”

On another positive note for Rangers supporters, the man who may be taking charge of his last game for the club today, Graeme Murty, believes that McCrorie is only going to get better.

He’s very level-headed,” said Murty. “He’s always had success within his own age group, by it nationally with Scotland, or with Rangers, but he just gets on with his job.

“He comes in hungry every day to get better. He pesters the staff like you would not believe: Craig Flannigan, our sports scientist, Jamie Ramsden, myself. He wants clips, he wants to go work on his left foot.

“His brother’s exactly the same. They’ve been raised in an environment that gives them the autonomy to go and try and get better. We know that Ross will come in every day and put a proper shift in because he is dedicated to his craft, and dedicated to getting to the highest level he possibly can.”

The development of youth of course, is Murty’s main remit at the club, and he will return to his day-job whenever the new permanent manager of the first-team is appointed.

To say that he has enjoyed every moment of his second spell at the helm of the club would be stretching it a little, with euphoric peaks and devastating troughs along the way.

But most of the Rangers fans present at Pittodrie today will thank him for ultimately restoring confidence to a group of players who were bereft of that vital quality.

“They’re the same lot,” he said. “All I’ve tried to do is give them a framework and a solidity to play from. “They’ve also needed, candidly, a bit of belief from me when things weren’t great. Players thrive when they are confident.”