Aberdeen.................. 0, Rangers.................. 3
RANGERS went to Pittodrie yesterday, notoriously a difficult venue for them, and took full advantage of Celtic's dropped points against Hearts 24 hours earlier at Parkhead.
Eventually the champions won by three goals, Aberdeen's fans were heading for the exits early and the Ibrox support remained to celebrate one of their more potent victories in the Granite City.
Once again there was an incisive quality about the Rangers attacks which Aberdeen could not match. At the beginning it was the home team who dominated, but they huffed and puffed to no avail and soon Rangers began to show them how effective they could be.
This result pushed the Ibrox men five points clear of Celtic and gave them a massive 10 points lead over Aberdeen.
It was the beginning of the most crucial month of the season for Rangers - and they went into it with style and, more importantly, with a victory.
Aberdeen were never able to tame Brian Laudrup. Nor were they able to muffle the contribution made by Paul Gascoigne. As always, the towering talents of these two players set Rangers above the opposition.
However, there is another quality which exists inside Ibrox. This team still has that ``true grit'' which was the bedrock of so many successful Rangers teams in the past. Yesterday, for instance, they survived that early spell of Aberdeen pressure and then, as it ended, had their German midfielder Jorg Albertz carried off after he was injured in a challenge by David Rowson.
Instead of the team reshuffle working against them it seemed, suddenly, to inspire the champions. Ian Ferguson replaced the German and Craig Moore moved from the right side of midfield to the left and, in 35 minutes, Ferguson almost scored with a volley from 25 yards which was superbly saved by Nicky Walker.
That sparked a spell which saw Rangers move in front. A minute after Walker's save, Paul Gascoigne found Greg Shields out on the right. The youngster whipped a ball in low and Ally McCoist struck his finishing shot against the underside of the bar and watched as the ball was cleared.
The disappointment did not last longer than a minute. Brian Laudrup moved away from Stewart McKimmie down the left and then played the ball in for David Robertson.
Walker moved to his left where he expected Robertson's shot to go - but somehow the Rangers player mishit his effort and the ball was scrambled over the goalline at the near post.
Seven minutes into the second half, Joachim Bjorkland limped off and Charlie Miller appeared and Craig Moore was moved to the centre of the defence as Rangers rejigged once more.
But, while Aberdeen tried to go forward they were being caught more and more on the break with Gascoigne and Laudrup the main prompters.
Ally McCoist, looking to equal the post-war goals record in the Scottish league, may have been overcome by nerves. For he missed chance after chance and, Gordon Wallace's record of 264 goals remained intact.
The goals did arrive, however. In 77 minutes Laudrup decided to take a hand in the scoring stakes. He gathered a ball from Charlie Miller on the halfway line and moved effortlessly clear of a posse of pursuing defenders.
Walker charged from goal, but as the keeper approached Laudrup went past the despairing tackle and then lobbed the ball from more than 30 yards into the empty net.
It was a stunning goal and yet, the man had not finished his magic. Four minutes from the end, he made another opening for McCoist. This time McCoist was on target, but Walker spread himself to save.
However, it broke from the keeper's body and Charlie Miller followed up to steer the ball into goal.
There was almost a moment of consolation for Aberdeen when Rowson hammered in a long range shot but Andy Goram punched the ball over the bar.
For Rangers the win came at a cost with their Albertz and Bjorkland injured. However, it emphasised once more the strength of their back-up squad with Ferguson and Miller coming off the bench and helping the team to this win.
There were five bookings in the match, David Robertson, Ian Ferguson, Greg Shields and Charlie Miller of Rangers, and David Rowson of Aberdeen.
ABERDEEN - Walker, McKimmie, Tzvetanov, Rowson, Irvine, Kombouare, Young, Dodds, Kiriakov, Windass, Booth. Substitutes: Miller, Stillie, Ingolfsson.
RANGERS - Goram, Shields, Robertson, Gough, Petric, Bjorklund, Moore, Gascoigne, McCoist, Albertz, Laudrup. Substitutes: Miller, Ferguson, Anderson.
Referee: J McCluskey (Stewarton).
Next match: Aberdeen - Dunfermline (a). Rangers - Hibs (h).
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