Hamza Igamane continued his hot streak as his early goal set Rangers on their way to all three points in a convincing 3-0 victory over a hapless Aberdeen.

Igamane gave Rangers a 1-0 lead going into the second half and after a flurry of missed chances, Leon Balogun and Cyriel Dessers completed the win with two late goals in stoppage time.

Rangers quickly settled into their rhythm, dominating the early stages of the match. Hamza Igamane has been the man of the moment for Rangers in the last few months and he could’ve put the Gers ahead inside 10 minutes.

Kevin Nisbet was dispossessed in the middle of the park and Vaclav Cerny instantly picked out Igamane. With just the keeper to beat the forward was already wheeling away in celebration but his effort whistled by the post to keep the game level.

Aberdeen didn’t learn from that early warning however and this time Igamane made no mistake. Nilsen failed to control a simple pass from Doohan and Cerny pounced on the make-shift defender. He drove into the Aberdeen area and cut it back to Diomande. His initial effort was blocked but Igamane was there to hammer the ball into the net to give Rangers the early lead.

Aberdeen offered little in the first half but Leighton Clarkson almost produced a moment of magic before the half-hour. He jumped on a loose ball inside the centre circle and went for a spectacular lob that almost had Kelly beat but he scampered back to just keep the ball out.

Rangers responded instantly and Danilo will feel he should’ve gotten the second of the night. Hagi had been controlling the game and slipped a through ball into the striker that split the Aberdeen defence. Danilo lifted his strike but Doohan was out quick to deny him a goal.

Half-time: Rangers 1 – 0 Aberdeen

Rangers started the second half continuing to ask questions of the Aberdeen back-line. Hagi’s strike from the edge of the area looked destined to beat Doohan but it whizzed off the crossbar to keep Aberdeen in the game.

Aberdeen were hanging on as the half progressed and Rangers pushed for a second. Both Hagi and Bajrami had efforts from the edge of the area that only just missed the mark.

Jimmy Thelin tried to breathe some new life into his lacklustre forward line by bringing on Duk and Morris with Kevin Nisbet and Keskinen putting in another disappointing performance. The changes failed to change the momentum however with Aberdeen continuously turning the ball over with slack pass after slack pass.

With ten minutes to go Aberdeen tried to throw bodies forward in an attempt to grab an unlikely equaliser. Shayden Morris was lively when he came on but familiar problems in front of goal arose again for Aberdeen as they failed to create any clear chances that troubled Liam Kelly.

Rangers finally thought they had a second minutes from full-time when Leon Balogun glanced a header from a corner but his effort struck the post much to the dismay of the Union Bears behind the goal.

With minutes of the 7 added left, Rangers finally put the game to bed. Tavernier’s corner went over everyone but Nsiala was on hand to put the ball back into the area and Balogun rose highest at the back post to rubber stamp the 3 points for Rangers.

With seconds left, Dessers then compounded the misery for Thelin’s men. Dorrington let the ball bounce over him and then slipped which let Dessers run at Topers. He cut onto his left and drove it low and past Doohan to complete the game.

Full-time Rangers 3 – 0 Aberdeen

Teams

Rangers: Kelly (GK); Ridvan, Propper (Balogun 74), Nsiala, Jefte, Diomande, Raskin (C), Hagi (Tavernier 78), Cerny, Danilo (Bajrami 46), Igamane (Dessers 88)

Aberdeen: Doohan (GK); Devlin, Shinnie, Nilsen, McGarry (Jensen 71), Tobers, Clarkson, Okkels (Polvara 71), Palaversa (Dorrington 64), Keskinen (Morris 66), Nisbet (Duk 64)

Referee: Kevin Clancy, Graeme Stewart and David Roome. Nick Walsh (VAR)