Stand in skipper Dan Neil insists the highs still cancel out the lows after four months experiencing the ups and downs of a Rangers player

Dan Neil has only been at Ibrox for four months and yet he’s already experienced the full scope of the Rangers rollercoaster ride.

From the pits of despair after being twice dumped out of Europe to the intoxicating highs of back-to-back Old Firm wins, the 24-year-old has been sent spinning by life in Glasgow.

But no sooner than he thought he was heading in the right direction after his man-of-the-match display in last month’s Premier Sports Cup quarterfinal win over Celtic, he found himself caught in another dizzying twist as his error in the Dens draw with Dundee cost Derek McInnes’ men a valuable victory.

It’s been up and down again since then, with a four-goal romp over St Johnstone followed by another big dipper as ragged Rangers were given the run-around by Hearts for long spells during Wednesday’s 2-2 result at Tynecastle.

But as frustrating as the lows have been, Neil reckons they are cancelled by the buzz from the soaring peaks when Gers hit the levels they are capable of.

And he’s hoping that Rangers can stay on the rails this weekend as they face semi-final opponents Aberdeen, when McInnes’ men will aim to send their fans head over heels by reaching the first showpiece occasion of the campaign.

"I'm enjoying the rollercoaster,” grinned the Light Blues midfielder. “This is why I came to the club, the wins are right up there and the losses are down there.

"You want to play for a club like this and you have to take the good times with the bad times. The Dundee one, it's certainly not the first mistake I've made and it certainly won't be the last.

"It's about how you react from it. I'm really enjoying my time here.

"The game on Wednesday night, I thought the performance wasn't perfect. The first half wasn't good enough at all. That word is control, we didn't have enough until we went 2-1 down, to be honest.

"Then we started playing through the thirds a bit better. It's probably a psychological thing. It was at Tynecastle and a lot was made of the game.

"Maybe we had more time on the ball than we thought. We could have played our football and when we went 2-1 down, we did that, but we have to do that at the start of the game.

"These are all things we've talked about as a squad and things we can improve on as the season goes on.”

McInnes sat his men down on Thursday to run through the mistakes that handed Hearts the initiative in Gorgie. Olwethu Makhanya’s late equaliser got Gers out of jail and Neil hopes the Auchenhowie debrief can help his side arrest their recent slump on the road, where Gers have now dropped four points from the last six available.

"That's a natural thing for the squad to do,” he said. “It’s not about calling emergency meetings.

"It's day to day, having conversations about where we can improve as a team and how individuals can improve, on or off the pitch. That's just a growing quality of this squad, the constant conversations we're having.

"Wednesday night was a tough game and there were a lot of negatives about it. But there were also some positives to the performance as well and we've spoken about both sides of it.

"Hopefully we can take things forward that we've spoken about."

As stand-in skipper, Neil will be the man to lead Gers out at Hampden. Whether he will be at the head of the queue for the final on December 13 will depend both on how his team fare against the Dons and on club-captain Lawrence Shankland’s bid to return in time from the hamstring surgery that has kept him out for the past two months.

But having had the honour of wearing the armband when his former club Sunderland clinched Premier League promotion with victory in the 2025 play-off final at Wembley, he’s hoping for similar success on the slopes of Mount Florida.

"I haven’t been to Hampden before so I'm really looking forward to seeing the venue,” he said. "I've been told it's a very big pitch."

"It's a massive honour to captain the team on a big occasion at a big venue. To lead the team out and potentially get to a final would be a massive honour.

"It would be great to take that next step in the right direction. I played in the Championship play-off final with Sunderland and I can definitely take things from that experience.

"In terms of preparation, I've definitely taken things from it. Especially being a Sunderland fan, it was such a big occasion and it meant so much.

"The overall preparation mentally more than physically was so important. I'll try my best to help everyone in the squad with that, if that's what I need to do.

"There's plenty of lads here who have played on big stages and with our togetherness, we'll all be there for each other on Saturday and try to deal with the occasion as best we can.

“Being captain here is different because in my last leadership role, I'd been at that club for loads of years having come through the academy. I knew everyone in the building, where coming to the club here has been a little bit different.

"I've been given a leadership role early in my journey here at this club, but it's given me that extra motivation to help everyone around me. That's beneficial for the way I work and I'm learning about different ways of leading.

"There's a few lads in the dressing room that have a different way of leading and I've seen that at previous clubs too. So I'm enjoying the process and journey of it."

And Neil insists he’s also revelling in his partnership with Nico Raskin. He said: ”He's a fantastic player, a big personality and voice in the changing room.

"We get on really well off the pitch and it's still early days in our partnership, really. We're learning about each other's games but it's been good so far, when you look at results. We just need to keep working at it in training and in games to keep improving on it.”