Attendance 19,028
The visitors had by far the greater share of
possession and the bulk of the pressure, but a lack of
creativity in midfield and up front meant that there
was a distinct lack of chances for the Ibrox men
against a home defence that had both Russell Anderson
and Zander Diamond in outstanding form.
There could scarcely have been a more difficult
opening to the new campaign for Rangers than this
visit to Pittodrie followed by the Champions’ League
qualifier in Moscow with this being Aberdeen’s first
competitive fixture under new manager Jimmy Calderwood
As an indication of the interest generated by the
former Dunfermline boss, the game was the first
sell-out at Pittodrie for all of ten years.
There was a ferocious start to what has always been a
competitive game, but it was Rangers who were making
the running.
Peter Lovenkrands should have done better in six
minutes when released through on goal by Gregory
Vignal, only for his chip to be too high.
Goalkeeper David Preece had to be alert five minutes
later when he held Dado Prso’s header from a Chris
Burke corner.
Lovenkrands had obviously been targeted pre-match as a
danger to the Dons’ defence, for both Kevin McNaughton
and Zander Diamond were yellow-carded for fouls on the
Dane, with Michael Hart fortunate to escape similar
punishment for another infringement.
Preece again denied Prso on the half-hour when he
tipped the Croatian’s header over from an Alex Rae
cross.
The first-half ended goalless, but Rangers suffered a
blow in 47 minutes with the enforced substitution of
Chris Burke, who appeared to be suffering from
dehydration as Shota Arveladze replaced him. The young
winger had been the best player on show for the
visitors, and his loss was obviously going to be a
blow to Light Blue hopes of securing three points from
this most difficult of venues.
Five minutes later however Prso came close to breaking
the deadlock when his shot from a Nacho Novo cutback
was deflected wide of the target.
If the first-half had been a disappointment, then the
second was dire. Nacho Novo was the one constant
threat to the Dons’ defence – one curling cross only
just eluding the lurking Arveladze, but another
opening in 75 minutes should certainly have paid
dividends when Novo, wide on the right, elected to
shoot straight at Preece with Arveladze unmarked in
the middle.
It was all Rangers in the closing stages – a
Lovenkrands header from Gregory Vignal’s cross
striking the crossbar with Preece stranded in 83
minutes, then with just three minutes left on the
clock Phillip McGuire cleared Peter’s shot off the
line from a Stephen Hughes cross.
The game however ended goalless – Rangers having
failed to secure a win in their opening League fixture
just as they did two years ago before going on to win
the ‘Treble’.
It would however be an optimistic man who predicted a
similar outcome to this season’s campaign.
Manager Alex McLeish afterwards reflected:
“We needed a break in front of goal. We created enough
chances. The players worked hard, but we knew Aberdeen
would be up for it. The game was played at breakneck
speed.”
ABERDEEN Preece; Hart, Anderson, Diamond, McGuire
(Morrison 87); McNaughton (Tosh 85), Severin,
Heikkinen, Clark; Whelan (Craig 82), Adams
UNUSED SUBS Esson, Tiernan, Stewart
RANGERS Klos; Ricksen, Boumsong, Khizanishvili,
Vignal; Burke (Arveladze 47), A. Rae, Hughes,
Lovenkrands; Prso, Novo
UNUSED SUBS G. Smith, Malcolm, Vanoli, Hutton,
Andrews, McCormack
REFEREE Stuart Dougal