Cammy Devlin admits he had to dig deep into his resolve following the red card devastation so early in his Rangers career.
The 28-year-old combative midfielder, who followed boss Derek McInnes from Hearts in the summer, was sent off in his fifth game for the Gers after coming on as substitute in the 1-0 win over Jablonec in the first leg of their Conference League play-off at Ibrox for a high tackle on Jiri Slama.
Devlin was suspended for the return game last Thursday when Jablonec went through on penalties to heap pressure on McInnes and the Gers squad going into Sunday’s William Hill Premiership game against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
The Australia international returned to the engine room to help the Light Blues to a much-needed a 1-0 win. And ahead of the trip to Falkirk on Wednesday night, Devlin said: “I hate letting my team down and felt that was something I did there.
“I was absolutely devastated. People have seen me play for long enough now, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I work as hard as I can every day to be the best version of myself, the best player, the best team-mate.
“I have been brought to Rangers, something I’m so grateful for, so I’m doing everything in my power to do well myself but also help bring success to what is such a good team with good players.
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“So for that to happen, and the way it happened, the still (photo) of it looks much worse if you actually watch the moment. We had the ball, I actually hit my head so I don’t remember too much about it. I was so upset for that to happen, I am so desperate to do well.
“You have to show resilience in the tough moments and that was another one for me. Given the opportunity to play from the start on Sunday – I don’t care if I play five minutes, one minute or 90 minutes I just want to play as well as I can.
“I really wanted to do well and didn’t care if I was the worst player on the pitch, I just wanted to win.”
McInnes criticised his side’s performance after the shock defeat by Jablonec and Devlin acknowledged the importance of the positive reaction against Aberdeen. He said: “The criticism is deserved – you play for Rangers and got knocked out of Europe.
“Criticism is part of it, it’s part of playing here and it wasn’t good enough.The gaffer is so desperate to do well. He’s spoken about that in all his interviews, everyone knows how much this club means to him. He played here when he was a young guy.
“We are so desperate to do well for him, for the club and for the people who support us because it means so much to so many people. Representing such a special football club, it’s not something you can take lightly.
“You have to move on, as hard as it is, you have to look forward and that’s the only way.”
