Rangers' young players have all been thrown in at the deep end but there is clear blue water between Lewis Macleod and the rest.

In the eyes of Kenny McDowall, the teenage midfielder has the hallmark of Aiden McGeady and can follow the same route taken by the former Celtic player, who eventually earned himself a £10million move.

The Ibrox assistant manager played a part in McGeady's development when he worked as a youth and reserve coach for the other half of the Old Firm. Macleod's playing style is completely different to that of the Republic of Ireland winger, but the pair share the same belief in their ability. Macleod returns today to the place where he made his Rangers debut in August, just 20 league games ago, as Ally McCoist's side began their Irn-Bru Third Division life by scraping a 2-2 draw with Peterhead. The wind whipping from the North Sea to Balmoor Stadium is symbolic when McDowall considers the 18-year-old Macleod. "They sink or swim," he said. "Some take a bit longer to grasp the new environment but the top ones do it right away."

Macleod was rewarded in September with a five-year contract and has been at the club since he was 10, echoing the career of McGeady who arrived at Celtic at the age of 12 and shone until his sale to Spartak Moscow.

"We have found a diamond," said McDowall. "He has the temperament to be an Old Firm player. The first session he came in, he was not fazed. Sometimes, you see them tentative but Lewis straight away was making tackles, demanding the ball. Aiden McGeady had unbelievable talent when he came in when I was at Celtic. This season, Lewis has been one of our first picks in the team. He is destined for the big time."

Another young player who has become a regular this season, Ross Perry, will soon celebrate his 23rd birthday but the central defender is the one man in McCoist's side who does not receive any allowances for his youth. "The manager has always said to me that my position is the hardest one to give a youngster a chance because there's so much responsibility," explains Perry.

The Falkirk-born player missed the trip to Peterhead on the opening day because of a thigh injury and watched the match on television – but he drew a parallel between that game and his own experience of playing in the English Conference, a league that has been at the centre of much Rangers-themed discussion this week. "I think that [game at Peterhead] set the tone for what was to come in away games in the third division," Perry said.

"I was on loan at Oxford United when they were in the Conference and had that type of game a lot. The worst was Barrow-in-Furness, for an FA Cup replay, which we lost 3-1. Some of the Scottish third division grounds we're going to are glamorous in comparison to Barrow, which gets battered by the weather."