at the hands of Aberdeen this afternoon - but it was a
game marred by some appalling refereeing decisions
that materially affected the outcome of the game.
The Ibrox men travelled north conscious of the
statistic that they had not suffered defeat at the
hands of Aberdeen for fully six years in any
competition, seven on League business.
Manager Alex McLeish made two changes from Cyprus with
Bob Malcolm and Peter Lovenkrands replacing Marvin
Andrews and Thomas Buffel.
For some unaccountable reason Rangers wore their white
change strip at a venue amongst the most hostile in
Europe for the Ibrox men - but the visitors almost got
off to the perfect start in six minutes when Fernando
Ricksen, booed every time he played the ball by the
Dons support, saw his chip following a Barry Ferguson
free-kick cleared off the line by Russell Anderson.
Sixty seconds later Nacho Novo's snapshot following a
Dado Prso run was just over.
There was an electric atmosphere inside Pittodrie,
perhaps contributing to the spate of bookings inside
the opening half-hour.
Aberdeen broke the deadlock on 29 minutes when
Anderson headed home following a Gary Dempsey
free-kick that was only half-cleared by Malcolm - but
without question the goal should never have stood -
Steve Lovell blatantly barging Ronald Waterreus to the
ground in the build-up.
If that was a shock then worse was to follow for
Rangers when eight minutes later Steve Lovell moved
onto a pass from former Ranger Barry Nicholson to
round Malcolm before finding the net from the edge of
the box.
As in Cyprus in midweek, a team is at its' most
vulnerable immediately after scoring - and so it
proved again today when the visitors immediately
reduced the deficit, Prso heading home unchallenged
from a Ricksen corner.
Steven Thompson replaced Malcolm at the interval, and
within three minutes of the restart the scores were
level when Lovenkrands scored with a magnificent
scissors kick from a Thompson cross.
Rangers were now well on top - indeed even when
trailing they had had the better of play - yet the
game turned irrevocably in 54 minutes on yet another
blunder by Referee John Underhill when he showed a
second yellow and consequent red to Ricksen following
an innocuous collision with Kevin McNaughton.
Alex Rae substituted for Nacho Novo and Maurice Ross
replaced Lovenkrands as McLeish sought to consolidate
his team's position.
With time running out Rangers appeared in command, yet
in 87 minutes a low 22-yard drive from Jamie Smith
found the corner of the net.
Time had run out on Rangers, and afterwards Alex
McLeish refused to criticise the referee, reflecting:
"The ordering-off was the turning-point. We had done
well to come back, showing great character. I felt we
could win, even at half-time. Aberdeen got a massive
lift when we were reduced to ten men. The defence lost
two bad goals."
On the missing Andrews and Buffel, 'Eck' stated that
the Belgian was missing with a knee injury, whilst
Marvin was away on International duty.
ABERDEEEN Esson; Clark, Anderson, Diamond, McNaughton;
Nicholson, Severin, Muirhead (Foster 79), Dempsey
(Stewart 80); Lovell (Craig 72), Smith
UNUSED SUBS Langfield, Donald, Winter,
RANGERS Waterreus; Fanfan, Malcolm (Thompson 45),
Rodriguez, Ball; Ricksen, Ferguson, Murray,
Lovenkrands (Ross 73); Prso, Novo (A. Rae 59)
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Adam, McCormack, N'Guessen
REFEREE John Underhill
Attendance 18,182