Rangers recovered from their European hangover to get back to winning ways against Aberdeen in the SPL. Goals from Steven Davis and Steven Naismith gave us a 2-0 victory and took us back to the top of the league on goal difference. Rangers are level on points with Motherwell at the top.
Rangers lined up with McGregor in goals, a back four of Perry, Bocanegra, Goian and Broadfoot. The midfield was made up of Wylde, Edu, Davis and Naismith, with Lafferty and Jelavic up front. New boy Bedoya was on the bench.
Rangers had the first chance of the game with a Kyle Lafferty shot in the fifth minute but the shot was blocked and the chance was not taken. It was a messy start to the game with neither team able to stamp their authority on it.
Gregg Wylde was the next Rangers player to test the Aberdeen goalkeeper but his shot went wide in the 11th minute. Lafferty then had another shot two minutes later which went over the bar. Slowly but surely Rangers were starting to take a bit of control and captain Steven Davis tried his luck in the fifteenth minute and scored the opening goal.
A clever pass from Jelavic had set the Rangers captain up, and the Northern Ireland international slotted home at the back post. Steven Naismith picked up what looked like a hip injury but managed to carry on, but defender Goian limped off and had to be replaced by Whittaker before half-time.
While Rangers had a the best of the first half, it looked like they were still down in the dumps over the Euro exit with their second half performance. Aberdeen really took the game to Rangers and Rangers were lucky that the Dons didn’t get it back on level terms.
Bocanegra, scorer against Maribor, nearly scored again although this time at the wrong end with a header going goalwards only for Allan McGregor to claw it out with a wonderful save. Aberdeen had several attempts on goal but Rangers managed to keep them out somehow.
Then deep into injury time, Rangers secured all three points with a goal from Steven Naismith. The forward was quick to pounce on a dropped ball by the Aberdeen goalkeeper after Davis had fired in a free-kick from Aberdeen.
So 2-0 it finished, not a particularly pretty game but three points was what we got and it took us back to the top of the table to end a hard week on a high note.
Rangers v Aberdeen Match Stats
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