Rangers win moves them closer

Aberdeen 1 Rangers 2

Rangers today cut Celtic’s lead at the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League to three points thanks to a 2-1 win at Aberdeen.

Dado Prso’s early strike set up the success, which also featured a bizarre own goal by the home side not long after.

The Dons recovered quickly to get back in the game through a Darren Mackie strike and the rest of the afternoon, although lacking further goals, was as entertaining and hard-fought as the fans of each side demand on such occasions.

Little had happened until the ninth minute when Prso netted his 12th Rangers goal by converting a crossfield pass from Bojan Djordjic from 12 yards out.

Aberdeen managed to double that deficit seven minutes later when goalkeeper Ryan Esson, deputising for injured first choice David Preece, found himself the wrong side of a challenge by the Croat as Fernando Ricksen floated in a corner.

The former Scotland U21 international could only flap the ball towards his own goal where it crossed the line off the head of the unfortunate Kevin McNaughton, who was on the line.

Esson had already been living on the edge as the corner itself had been fortuitous, via the slightest of deflections as Nacho Novo had slotted the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs and just past the far post.

Aberdeen knew they had to score quickly to get back into the game and the Pittodrie faithful were frustrated as Markus Heikkinen headed a good chance over before Mackie saw Stefan Klos beat away a well-struck effort.

But Mackie was not to be denied in the 19th minute, converting a McNaughton pass off the crossbar for his team’s first goal in five league games – after Noel Whelan had contributed a clever backheel.

McNaughton was booked in the 36th minute for a late centre circle challenge on Prso, who had been restored to the starting line-up at Steven Thompson’s expense and had just headed a Ricksen free-kick inches wide.

There was a let-off for the Dons just before the break when striker Whelan under-hit a backpass that Novo, who was back in the team following suspension, latched on to to motor past the stranded Esson.

His first instinct was to try to find the goal despite a tight angle and Aberdeen were relieved when the ball rebounded back into play off the far post to be cleared.

Whelan made amends by forcing Klos into another save in stoppage time but was too zealous in trying to reclaim the ball for the corner, being booked for barging the German over.

Two more bookings followed seven minutes after the restart when Hart fouled Djordjic, who reacted angrily by thrusting his hands into the face of the man he mistakenly thought was the culprit, Chris Clark.

A melée ensued and Gregory Vignal was booked for his part in it, along with Hart.

Djordjic was stretchered off in the 55th minute when he suffered a knee injury in a challenge with Clark, with Thompson coming on.

Clark’s challenge had appeared legitimate enough but he was booked just before the hour for catching Ricksen instead of the ball.

Tempers subsided after that and so did the chances, with Rangers happy to hold on to what they had and Aberdeen unable to change the course of the match.

Dons boss Jimmy Calderwood had vowed to abandon his trademark 2-4-4 emergency formation after a 5-0 thrashing at Ibrox and remained true to his word as the Dons declined to gamble despite the scoreline.

Rangers pressed for more goals, with Prso seeing a shot blocked by Diamond and Novo forcing a save from Esson.

Novo might have won a penalty had he gone down under Russell Anderson’s challenge, before substitute Hamed Namouchi – who replaced Prso – wasted a glorious late chance to wrap things up by firing wastefully wide after being sent clear by Thompson.

One good chance did come the Dons’ way during that spell, but Clark blasted over from just inside the box.

It was the 300th competitive meeting between the two sides but Aberdeen’s win total remained at a paltry 75.