Ryan Naderi’s late goal in the League Cup Semi-Final broke Aberdeen hearts to ensure victory for Rangers in a close encounter at Hampden Park.
Rangers came into this game on a 10-match unbeaten run in domestic games with their last match being a 2-2 against Hearts at Tynecastle midweek. Aberdeen on the other hand have seen patch form all season and last suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Falkirk also on Wednesday.
The first ten minutes of the game were cagey, with both teams looking to settle and get early touches on the ball. Muller and Pandur had little to do in their respective nets.
Rangers had consecutive corners but failed to pose any real threat, first with a short corner recycling exercise and second with a misdirected header from Kevin Kelsey.
Aberdeen was forced into an earlier substitution with Emmanuel Gyamfi unable to continue with injury; he was replaced by Stuart Armstrong. From the corner, Rangers had a handball shout waved away by referee Ryan Lee.
Rangers continued a steady pressure for the following period with a deflected shot from captain Nicolas Raskin dropping into the arms of Muller in the Aberdeen net.
Aberdeen, however, shortly after found a quick counterattackdown the left–hand side with Nesta Guiness-Walker, whose low driven effort forced the save from Ivor Pandur and was the best chance of the game in the first 25 minutes. From the corner, Aremu’s outside of the box shot went high and wide.
The match became end to end with neither team having the cutting edge to make their possession count. The closest chance was a curling effort from Minsu Kim which dragged wide of the post.
Aberdeen had another chance to break the deadlock as a crossdown the righthand side was met by Kevin Niset, but he was unable to keep his glancing header on target.
Rangers had a Bouanani shot blocked and an effort from Naderi also going high. Muller had yet to be tested at all in goal. Shortly after, a well-played counterattack saw Kelsey miss a sliding effort down the left–hand side.
Rangers finally got their first chance on target as Bouanani found himself on the edge of the box and lashed a shot at Muller, whose fingertip save was cleared by the Dons defence. Soon after, Naderi should have done better with his glancing effort until the offside flag was raised.
Rangers had yet another chance just before the break as Aberdeen struggled to clear their lines and the ball broke to Minsu Kim, who failed to keep his strike on target as he searches for his first Rangers goal.
Raskin saw his header off target as the referee blew for the halftime whistle. It was a close half with chances for both teams, however both lacked any final product as the game remained a stalemate. For all Rangers possession, Aberdeen was organised and largely dealt with any Rangers threat.
At the start of the second half, Dan Neil warmed up as James Penrice looked to be struggling, however the left backdeputising in midfield insisted on continuing.
Bouanani cut onto his left foot, and his powerful low driven effort looked to be tapped in by Naderi, but his outstretched leg just missed the ball. Kevin Nisbet also had a deflected effort fall into the hands of Pandur.
Minsu Kim picked up the ball on the left-hand side and, once cutting onto his favoured right foot, saw his shot saved by Muller for a corner. Rangers kept the pressure up as Kelsey’s header flashed wide of the post.
Just after the hour mark, Bouanani weaved in-and-out of the Aberdeen defence, but his chance was saved by Muller. Derek McInnes then made his first changes of the match as Kim and Rommens made way for Gassama and Neil.
Straight from this, Raskin’s left footed shot was saved by Muller and Neil’s deflected chance went out for a corner. Rangers ramped up the pressure as Gassama’s effort deflected for another corner.
Bouanani had yet another left footed shot go wide as the close matchup ticked past the 70th minute mark.
A quick Aberdeen counterattack saw Nisbet’s shot hit off Makhanya for a corner. Nisbet’s follow up effort went high and wide. The match looked to spring into life with less than 15 minutes of the 90 remaining.
As Raskin saw his chance caught by Muller, Nisbet failed todirect his shot on target at the other side.
With less than eight minutes remaining the deadlock was finally broken. Kevin Kelsey led the counter with an impressive dribble into the Aberdeen final third; the ball was fed to James Penrice who slid an effort towards goal which was tapped in by Ryan Naderi. This was the strikers’ eighth goal of the season.
Stephen Robinson made some late changes as Afeez, Devlin and Ronan were replaced by Yogane, Marshall and Smith. Rangers subbed off Bouanani and Fernandez for Curtis and Godfrey.
The referee signalled an extra five minutes of injury time as Aberdeen pushed for an equaliser. Armstrong’s desperate shot flashed wide of the post.
Aberdeen huffed and puffed but were unable to find their equaliser as Ryan Lee blew for the full-time whistle sending the Rangers fans into raptures as the Aberdeen fans rushed to the exits for their long journey back up north.
Rangers extend their unbeaten run to 11 games and will now play the winner of Sunday’s Edinburgh derby in the Premier Sports Cup final on December 13th. They next face an away tie to St Mirren in league action next week.
This is the third consecutive loss for Aberdeen in all competition’s as they host struggling Hibs at Pittodrie next week.
Rangers: Pandur, Sterling, Fernandez, Makhanya, Rommens, Raskin, Penrice, Kim, Bouanani, Naderi, Kelsey
Subs: Kelly, Godfrey (88’), Neil (65’), Nedelkovic, Dragoievic, Gassama (65’), Miovski, Chukwuani (89’), Curtis(88’)
Aberdeen: Muller, Devlin, Lyons, Mouloua, Nisbet ©, Molloy, Milne, Guiness-Walker, Ronan, Aremu, Gyamfi
Subs: Klein, Frame, Yogane (88’), Briedl, Smith (88’), Mahou, Armstrong (15’), Ntelo (56’), Marshall (88’)
