Tom Lawrence stars, Dujon Sterling horror show – Rangers player ratings v Aberdeen
Rangers are now level with Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after their 2-1 victory over Aberdeen.
Ibrox played host to the clash on Tuesday (6 February), with Rabbi Matondo and Todd Cantwell on the scoresheet for the hosts, as Bojan Miovski netted for the Dons.
The narrow victory means the Gers join their fierce rivals on 58 points, with the Bhoys ahead only on goal difference.
Here Ibrox News rates the Rangers players out of 10 for their performances…
Jack Butland – 5
The Gers number one was slightly hesitant when Miovski approached his goal before slotting home the equaliser, with Butland set to be disappointed with his efforts. He didn’t have too much to do in terms of saves after that.
James Tavernier – 6
It was an unusually quiet evening for the Rangers captain, who wasn’t allowed to get forward as much as he would have liked, with plenty of defending needing to be done, which he carried out well.
Connor Goldson – 5
Like Butland, the central defender will have been disappointed with his efforts for Aberdeen’s goal, with Goldson beaten for both pace and strength as Miovski levelled the scores.
John Souttar – 7
Souttar did a great job as he stepped in for the injured Leon Balogun, winning several battles against the very dangerous Miovski.
Ridvan Yilmaz – 6
Coming in for Ridvan Yilmaz, the exit-linked left-back put in another impressive shift, helping his side in both a defensive and offensive manner.
Lawrence shines for Rangers
Tom Lawrence – 8 (Man of the Match)
Unfortunately for Rangers supporters, Lawrence has not been available very often due to injuries, but they got a really good look at his fantastic ability against the Dons, with the midfielder producing a superb overall display. He didn’t mark it with a goal, but his long-range second-half effort was followed up by Cantwell, securing a huge three points for the home side.
John Lundstram – 6
The midfield enforcer produced another solid display for Clement, keeping things ticking over and helping prevent any Aberdeen breaks.
Rabbi Matondo – 7
The winger was a real threat from the very first whistle, and showed superb reactions to be the first to Ross McCausland’s parried shot to fire home the opener, although his brief second half was very quiet.
Todd Cantwell – 7
Cantwell was the creative spark yet again at Ibrox, and just like Matondo he was quickest to react from a long-range effort from Lawrence to put the hosts ahead.
Ross McCausland – 5
As always, the winger was quick and direct with his attacking, but as is often the case, his final output let him down, even if his tame effort led to Matondo’s goal.
Dessers struggles at Ibrox
Cyriel Dessers – 4
The summer signing has been among the goals lately, but he had no such luck against the Dons, with his poor outing summed up with Clement’s decision to bring him off before the hour mark.
Substitutes
Oscar Cortes (on for Matondo, 56′) – N/A
Fabio Silva (on for Dessers, 57′) – 6
The substitute produced an important shift from the bench, with the Wolves loanee posing a significant threat to the visiting defence time and again as his Ibrox career really picks up momentum.
Dujon Sterling (on for Lawrence, 75′) – 1
Sterling entered the Ibrox pitch in order to help the home side see out an important win, but he was shown a straight red card for a rash tackle on Jack MacKenzie just 13 minutes later. The player might argue that he slipped, but he still didn’t need to attempt the challenge.
Mohammed Diomande (on for Cantwell, 85′) – N/A
In other Rangers news, Jack Butland has sent a three-word message to one of his teammates after an Ibrox milestone.
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