Rangers 0-2 Aberdeen - season ends with a whimper

Aberdeen 2 (Severin 20, Lovell 31) Rangers 0 Attendance 20,010 It was however a game that was decided by some appalling refereeing decisions, in particular a failure to red-card Steve Lovell for a quite shocking tackle on Alan McGregor in the first-half. The home side went into the fixture knowing that victory would guarantee them a place in next season's UEFA Cup whilst Rangers Manager Walter Smith made two changes from last Saturday's debacle with Alan Hutton and Gavin Rae replacing the injured Ugo Ehiogu and Brahim Hemdani, absent due to a family bereavement. It was end-to-end action from the opening minutes with the home side attempting to intimidate their opponents with a physical approach backed by the intimidating atmosphere generated by a packed and hostile Pittodrie. The opening goal came right out of the blue in twenty minutes when a Michael Hart free-kick was laid back by former Ranger Barry Nicholson into the path of Scott Severin who sent a 25-yard thunderbolt screaming into the net. Four minutes later the game boiled over when Steve Lovell committed an absolutely atrocious foul on Allan McGregor, following through high and late. It should have been a straight red card without a shadow of a doubt - but unbelievably Referee Craig Thomson had turned his back on the incident and when he did actually arrive on the scene he incredibly dished out yellow cards to both Lovell AND McGregor. It was a truly shocking abrogation of duty from an official who had quite clearly lost the plot, as was illustrated in 27 minutes when he booked Nacho Novo for an innocuous trip on Russell Anderson. Sixty seconds later Lovell almost compounded the referee's felony when his hook-shot from a Lee Miller back-header came crashing back off the crossbar. Craig Thomson's inconsistency was highlighted again on the half-hour mark when Severin chopped down Novo - the referee contenting himself with a lecture to the Dons player. Sixty seconds later, just to rub salt into a gaping wound, Lovell made it 2-0 when he went through on a Darren Mackie flick, clipping the ball over the advancing McGregor who was obviously still affected by the earlier challenge. Yet again Craig Thomson illustrated his inconsistency when he simply gave Russell Anderson a talking-to after the defender had fouled Kris Boyd from behind, although he did finally yellow-card Michael Hart for a foul on Kevin Thomson in 42 minutes. Boyd was as ineffective as ever, heading wide an Alan Hutton cross with the goal gaping, as Rangers finished the half on top with Charlie Adam inches away from reducing the deficit on the stroke of half-time with a twenty-yard free-kick. The visiting fans had been subjected to the customary hymns of hate and abusive chants from the home fans - but, whilst they might have expected that, what they could scarcely have expected was to be the target of abuse from Aberdeen substitute Chris Maguire as he warmed at the interval. Gesturing at the 'Gers fans, he was finally spoken to by the police. Wonder if the SFA will take any action over this? Chris Burke replaced Novo at the interval and youngster Steven Lennon came on for Boyd after 63 minutes as Rangers sought a way back into the game, although many were puzzled that two strikers had been substituted when trailing by two goals. The two substitutes used could consider themselves fortunate however - the remaining subs, including youngster Andrew Shinnie, were being spat on and subjected to sickening abuse by Dons fans as they warmed up in front of the Main Stand as Pittodrie lived up to its' well-earned reputation as a cauldron of hate and hostility. Once again the police took no action. Burke was inches away from reducing the deficit in seventy minutes when his twenty-yard chip from a Gavin Rae pass struck the crossbar. Six minutes later at the other end Burke's error allowed Mackie to feed Lovell whose effort was saved by McGregor. Aberdeen had sought to intimidate the referee at every opportunity - five of them surrounding Craig Thomson to demand action following Alan Hutton's foul on Richard Foster in 81 minutes. The Ranger was yellow-carded, as was Mackie for his part in the proceedings - but if the official had shown any consistencty he would have booked all five Dons players. Rangers fought to the end with Adam's thirty-yard free-kick being touched wide by home goalkeeper Jamie Langfield in the dying seconds, but a lack of a cutting edge up front cost the visitors dear. ABERDEEN Langfield; Hart (Touzani 51), Anderson, Diamond, Foster; J. Smith, Severin (Considine 82), Nicholson, Mackie; Miller (Brewster 51), Lovell UNUSED SUBS Soutar, Maguire, Paton, McVitie RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Weir, Papac, Murray; Rae, Ferguson, Thomson, Adam; Novo (Burke 45), Boyd (Lennon 63) UNUSED SUBS Robinson, Svensson, Webster, Siokno, Shinnie REFEREE Craig Thomson