HIS parent club Tottenham Hotspur might be abuzz right now with the burgeoning possibility of their first top flight title for 55 years but Dominic Ball is happy earning his Spurs at Rangers. The on-loan 19-year-old defender/midfielder has emerged as the cornerstone of the new, more cautious blueprint which the Ibrox club have utilised to quietly rack up four clean sheets in a row.

While the plan on Saturday was to score at least one at the other end - they hit the post, the bar and generally finished the stronger against a Killie side who ended with ten men after the dismissal of Kallum Higginbotham - this goalless draw in the William Hill Scottish Cup demonstrated the tactical tweaks which have made the Ibrox outfit significantly less susceptible to the counter attack than the group which was torn asunder by a Michael O'Halloran-inspired St Johnstone back in September. While they still have to get the job done in the replay at Rugby Park next Tuesday, not since the days of Walter Smith's Uefa Cup final run in 2008 has it been possible to derive so much satisfaction from a goalless draw at home.

"It is always a tough game when you’re playing in the league below," said Ball. "It is definitely a step up. We did well but we know we can be even better. The lads are a little bit quiet, no one is down but no-one is buzzing either. We know the quality we’ve got, we see it in training each day and in most of the games we’ve played. It’s disappointing we couldn’t score. But as long as you get a clean sheet it’s a bit of a result and we go to Kilmarnock now looking for the win."

While a calf injury sustained by Rob Kiernan late in the game forced Rangers to revert to their early-season shape, this new model sees Ball sitting at the base of the midfield, Andy Halliday pushing on, and only one of the club's two formidable attacking full backs, James Tavernier and Lee Wallace, venturing forward at a time. Ball's first instincts in that role tend to be defensive ones, rather than the creative scheming of Halliday.

"We got carried away a little bit before Christmas," said Ball. "We started playing a bit too aggressively. If the two full-backs were going forward, it was literally two defenders on two attackers and if Andy went on it was maybe 3 v 2. Now we keep one full back back and the holding midfielder stays too. So we attack with six, defend with four. We’re just solid with it.

"As a centre-half you know what you want your midfielder to do but you can’t read his mind and he can't read yours," the teenager added. "I’ve learned as a centre-half to look at what he does well, using that for myself and using what I’d want a holding midfielder to do. When I’ve gone in there that’s what I’ve done."

If the player appears to do these things naturally, perhaps it is because he actually signed for Spurs from Watford as an attacking midfielder. "I got taller and taller and got worse and worse!" Ball jokes. "So I dropped back to centre-half and developed from there. But I’m a versatile player."

While Ball keeps track of Tottenham's remarkable title challenge, they are methodical enough to keep regular tab on his progress. The 19-year-old's contract at White Hart Lane expands at the end of next season and he feels he has every chance of returning there to fight for his place next season. Who knows, by then Spurs could be champions of England and should at worst have Champions League football to look forward to.

"I speak to a guy called Paul Brush every couple of weeks and we talk about the games," said Ball. "He watches my clips and they just say how things are going off the pitch too. It’s nice to know they’re looking out for me, games are on TV here so that is good exposure for me too. I came to get games, and I’ve played 19 or 20 games, in front of 50,000 against good opposition with good players. It’s exactly what Spurs wanted and it’s what I wanted as well.

"The manager [Mauricio Pochettino] is brilliant," added Ball. "He probably knew it was best for me to go out and get some game time. You look at the players there – Ryan Mason, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Harry Kane – and pretty much the whole team has been on loan. You come back and play when you’re ready. He will decide when that is.

"I think I’ve grown up massively here. Every day I go into Murray Park I’m trying to improve so when I go on the pitch it’s a product of the hard work I’ve been doing. I’ve matured on and off the pitch and just from being in the changing room with first team players. At Spurs I wasn’t really doing that. My contract is up at the end of next season so I really feel I can go back and challenge."

While Josh Magennis aimed an angled header narrowly wide, and Craig Slater forced a fine save from Wes Foderingham, the second half belonged to Rangers, who hit a post through Tavernier and saw a Danny Wilson header strike the bar.

Rangers 0 Kilmarnock 0

Rangers (4-1-2-3): Foderingham; Tavernier, Kiernan (Law 74), Wilson, Wallace; Ball; Halliday, Zelalem (Holt 61); Waghorn, Miller (Forrester 61), McKay.

Subs not used: Bell, Clark, Shiels, Thompson

Kilmarnock (4-4-1-1): McDonald; Hodson, Balatoni, FIndlay, Smith; McKenzie, Slater, Dicker (O'Hara 65), Obadeyi (Higginbotham 73); Kiltie; Magennis.

Subs not used: Brennan, Ashcroft, Hamill, Frizzell, Boyd

Referee: B Madden

Booked: Rangers: Holt 68. Kilmarnock: Smith 29, Slater 72

Sent off: Higginbotham 89

Attendance: 33,581