Rangers ‘lacked clarity’ in labouring draw against Aberdeen – Halliday
Rangers were far from their best on Tuesday evening as they laboured to a 1-1 draw against Aberdeen to see Celtic close in at the top of the league.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side took an early lead when Ianis Hagi converted a Ryan Kent cross after 20 minutes but they were pegged back by a Lewis Ferguson penalty 15 minutes from time.
Kent went on to get himself sent off with seven minutes still to play which rules him out of this weekend’s visit of Livingston to Ibrox.
The Scotsman journalist Stephen Halliday blasted the Rangers performance in his latest piece after the Dons looked the most likely to score a winner late on.
“Knocked out of their stride by Aberdeen, they looked uncomfortable in a display which lacked clarity and fluidity,” Halliday wrote.
“It certainly wasn’t the way van Bronckhorst wanted his team’s title defence to resume.”
A one-off
Rangers were far from the standards they have set themselves this season but maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.
No team can perform to their absolute best every single game of such a long season so an off-day was always going to come for van Bronckhorst’s men.
It just so happened to fall on last night’s game and the positive that fans can take from it is that they didn’t lose.
Weaker-minded teams would crumble when the home team, with their tails up and the crowd pumping, start attacking late on for a winner but Rangers managed to hold out with ten men and pick up a point that could be the crucial one come May.
That steely resolve is a credit to the Dutchman at the helm who had to play on without midfield stars Joe Aribo (Africa Cup of Nations), Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield (injury).
They are still four points clear of Old Firm rivals Celtic and they could extend that gap when the two face off in February.
In other Rangers news, this Ibrox-bound defender received a hostile reception from his own fans last night.