Scottish Premier League - Sunday 26th September 2010
Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen
A dream start for Aberdeen turned into a nightmare when they let a two goal lead slip against arch-rivals Rangers at Pittodrie this afternoon.
Scott Vernon and Chris 'Bebo' Maguire had put the Dons 2-0 up before a Miller double and a Jelavic strike gave the visitors a 3-2 victory. To add insult to injury, Maguire was sent off for a second bookable offence in the dying minutes.
After a fairly quiet start, Aberdeen took the lead in the 10th minute, Vernon grabbing his fifth goal in four games. Folly picked up the ball in midfield and gave it to Maguire, who turned and beat the offside trap with a perfectly timed pass to put Vernon in on goal. The big striker remained calm and composed to slot the ball easily into the bottom corner.
In the 18th minute, the away side had their first real chance. A long punt forward from Allan McGregor was flicked on for Miller whose low drive was well blocked by Langfield at the near post. Rangers played the resulting corner short, and Weiss fired a dangerous ball across goal, but fortunately nobody could get on the end of it.
There was a comical moment two minutes later, as Whittaker and Weir both went for the same ball and ran into each other, leaving Whittaker in a heap on the floor. However, a more serious and controversial incident occurred in the 26th minute, when Maguire attempted to charge down a McGregor clearance. The keeper got there first but as he cleared the ball he lashed out at Maguire with a completely unprovoked karate kick. Luckily for him, he didn’t make any contact and the referee didn’t see it, otherwise he would surely have been shown a straight red card for violent conduct.
Rangers should have been level in the 29th minute. A neat one-two between Naismith and Jelavic had Naismith through on goal, but he was stretching and couldn’t get his effort on target. A minute later, Aberdeen punished Naismith for that miss, doubling their lead. Vernon gave the ball to Mackie wide on the left. The Dons’ number 10 then sent a fantastic left foot cross into the middle for Maguire, who made no mistake in firing past McGregor from close range.
In the 32nd minute it all kicked off when Rangers were awarded a penalty after a stupid challenge on Weiss by Ifil. Diamond took exception to the manner in which Weiss went down and promptly shoved him back to the ground. Diamond received a yellow card for his trouble, as did Naismith who needlessly ran 20 yards to get involved. Miller kept his nerve to despatch the spot kick straight down the middle and bring his team back into the game.
In the 41st minute, Chris Maguire was booked following a late challenge on Broadfoot. As half time approached, Langfield did well to hold onto a Papac header, and Davis also had an effort sail over the bar.
Another amusing moment at the start of the second half came when McCulloch went down injured, only for Kenny Miller (to the delight of the home fans) to accidently stand on and fall over his team mate!
The smiles were wiped off Aberdeen faces though, when Rangers drew level in the 52nd minute. Davis charged down the left and squared for Miller, who was in acres at the far post, to blast high into the net past the helpless Jamie Langfield. A disastrous start to the half for the Dons.
Langfield scooped up a daisy cutter from Naismith in the 57th minute, and two minutes later, Jelavic hit the outside of the post with a shot from the edge of the box. Aberdeen went close again on 63 minutes though, Folly reacting quickly to head a Rangers clearance back at goal, forcing a save from McGregor.
A Derek Young strike from just inside the box in the 66th minute was deflected before Maguire inadvertently got in the way. The Aberdeen defence were caught napping a minute later though. The defence stopped, claiming offside against Miller and Jelavic, but as neither of them made a move for the ball, play was waved on. Naismith was then free to waltz through on goal, squaring to Jelavic for the tap in to make absolutely sure.
Maguire found himself in space in the 73rd minute, cut inside and unleashed a terrific drive from 25 yards which flashed just past the post. Maggenis replaced Considine two minutes later as McGhee looked to shake things up a bit. Mackie had a chance in the 77th minute when the ball fell perfectly for a volley in the D, but the striker elected to take a touch and possession was lost.
Ryan Jack replaced Young with 10 minutes to go. In the 86th minute, Diamond went on one of his trademark runs out of defence, only to be tackled by Naismith. With Diamond out of position, Rangers looked to be in, until Maguire brought him down. Unfortunately, the referee deemed this a yellow card offence, and Maguire, having been booked in the first half, was sent for an early bath.
There was a nasty clash of heads between Vujadinovic and Naismith with two minutes to go. The Aberdeen man came off worst and had to go off, Megginson coming on in his place. From the bounce ball, instead of simply passing back to Langfield, McCulloch decided to try to lob the Aberdeen keeper from the halfway line; thankfully his effort went just over. Aberdeen pressed in the dying minutes but just couldn’t make the breakthrough, and Rangers clung on for their first win in the north-east in four years.
So a valiant effort from Aberdeen, but nothing to show for it. Losing a two-goal lead is never good though, and the manner in which the goals were conceded also wasn’t great.
It was a respectable performance though, considering the number of key players missing today. You have to wonder how the game might have turned out had McGregor been sent packing for his assault on Bebo, with the score line at still at 1-0.
But there were certainly positives, Scott Vernon continues to bang them in and is looking better and better. Folly also had an excellent game. It is unfortunate however, that Maguire will now miss the Inverness game. A game which is looking to be a bit of a crunch match, with the sides level on points and goal difference.
Ronaldanho
Danny McKay won RedTV's Junior Reporter competition: click here
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