STUART FINDLAY has the feeling he’s being followed. But in a good way. The young defender is out on his third loan spell from Celtic, this time at Kilmarnock after previous temporary stints at first Morton and then Dumbarton. Watching his every movement is his parent club who, the player believes, have someone deployed in the stand at most games. The 20 year-old is hopeful of one day breaking in to the Celtic first team but for the time being is happy to continue his progress out on loan at Rugby Park.

“I speak to head of youth Chris McCart quite regularly,” he said. “He’s always making sure I’m up to date, working on my strengths and weaknesses as he asked me to do when I went to Kilmarnock. From what I hear they’ve always got a coach or scout at our games to make sure I’m doing what they want.

“I feel my game has improved and that I’ve become more streetwise. I’m playing against older players who have been around the block a little bit. There are guys who have played hundreds of games so that’s a lot different from youth football. I feel that’s going to help me improve having to deal with players who want to knock you off the ball. You have to be stronger and tougher.”

Those Celtic scouts are going to be kept busy in the coming weeks with Kilmarnock playing Motherwell in the league this weekend, ahead of a William Hill Scottish Cup replay against Rangers on Tuesday and, further down the line, a potential quarter-final at home to either Dundee or Dumbarton.

“We’ve got a big game coming up against Rangers and even before that we’ve got Motherwell in the league,” he added. “So we can’t look too far ahead. Obviously it’s good that we’ve got a home tie if we do get through to the quarter-finals. We put in a good performance against Rangers in the first game so hopefully we can replicate that next Tuesday.”

Rangers failed to score for the first time this season in the original tie last weekend, giving Findlay hope for the replay.

“It was good that we stopped Rangers scoring and the manner in which we did that was also pleasing,” added the Scotland under-21 player. “We nullified them and I think they only had one real chance inside our box which came in the first 10 minutes. James Tavernier hit the post with a shot outside the box and they hit our bar from a corner. But in terms of breaking us down I think we performed well as a unit. We restricted Rangers to passing in front of us and I think that gives us great confidence going into the replay.”