Rangers 2 - 1 Aberdeen: Rangers smarten up their act

RANGERS did what they needed to do. They didn't do it all that well, didn't move through this game without the odd coronary, didn't score the amount of goals they wanted to but the bottom line is that they had to win and they achieved that.

The decoration on top would have been a goalfest but they were nowhere near ruthless enough on that front. Walter Smith said he was pleased. And relieved. And frustrated. It was that type of day.

If drama was the sole judge of a match's quality then this was an epic, for there were all sorts of things happening out there. Not a lot of quality but interesting moments all the same. Barry Ferguson's return to action as a second-half substitute was almost incidental given what else went down. Early in the match we saw Kyle Lafferty getting Charlie Mulgrew sent off with an outrageous piece of simulation. Lafferty's dive was up there with the worst examples of this kind of thing, a preposterous moment of cheating from the Rangers player who claimed he was headbutted by Mulgrew when he obviously wasn't.

Of course, Stuart Dougal bought it. Dougal had a nightmare at Parkhead the other night, accusing Lee Wilkie of faking injury and rowing bitterly and inappropriately with Craig Levein. Here, he was sold down the river by his linesman, Graham Chambers, who was adamant that Mulgrew had thrown the head into Lafferty. The Rangers player made it even worse when caught winking at a team-mate as Mulgrew walked off.

With six minutes of the second half remaining, Madjid Bougherra became the second man to be shown red and, barring an unlikely mea culpa from Dougal, he'll now miss Rangers' trip to Tannadice on Sunday. What a grievous blow this could be to his team's title aspirations. It was nowhere near as clear-cut as the Mulgrew red but Rangers thought it was unjust. Smith, by his quiet standards, was apoplectic afterwards. Again it was Chambers who made the call, the linesman telling Dougal that Bougherra had slid into Jamie Langfield, the Aberdeen goalkeeper, studs first. He had, too. No disputing that part of it. Whether he intended to do it or not is unclear and, to be fair, probably irrelevant – Bougherra's boot connected with the goalkeeper's face. His attempt to reach the ball was seen as a reckless pursuit.

As he made his slow exit he bent down and had a word with the keepr. "He asked me had he caught me," said Langfield. "I said, 'you caught me alright, big man', and I showed him my face."

We had some goals later, the first of them put into his own net by Richard Foster just after the hour-mark at a time when Ibrox really was getting uptight, then a second went in soon after from Kenny Miller. Once you know that it was a header from a corner then you get the idea of what Aberdeen's marking was like. That said, Aberdeen defended really tightly for most of the day. Michael Paton pulled one back after 77 minutes but Rangers saw it out from there.

Rangers had a strong look about them when Smith revealed his hand. Sasa Papac returned so there was no shortage of physicality, Miller was back after missing the draw with Hibs so there was no end of industry and Lafferty, of course, was in there from the start so there was no end of theatre.

What Rangers lacked for over an hour was composure. Aberdeen lacked it too and their wasteful use of the ball drove Jimmy Calderwood round the twist if his mad gesticulating was anything to by, but Aberdeen could afford to give possession away every third pass. They weren't playing for much yesterday. Not really. They have a vague dream of making it into Europe but the stakes were miniscule compared to their opponents'.

So, a lack of accuracy from Rangers. And there were any number of villains in this regard. Pedro Mendes, to be frank, doesn't look remotely like a £3 million player. Hasn't done for some time. Rangers people were entitled to look to him for the inspiration required but he didn't do enough, not nearly enough. He gave the ball away far too much (and was rightly replaced by Ferguson). Steven Davis has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting of late but he wasn't at his best here either. Maurice Edu has been terrific but unlocking packed defences with a piece of vision is not his bag just yet.

When Mulgrew departed, Rangers had a brief spell of dominance during which a Davis shot and a deflection off Papac's heel almost saw the ball ending up in Langfield's net. Only the goalkeeper's right-hand post saved Aberdeen. Bougherra disappeared not long after that and we were 10-10 on the playing front. We would have been 0-1 on the scoring front had Neil Alexander, a real trooper these past weeks, not made a fine save from a long range thunderbolt from Peter Pawlett.

After long passages of misplaced passes and heavy groans from the home crowd, Rangers finally cut loose and scored. There were 66 minutes gone when Miller scampered away up the left and swung in a cross aimed at Lafferty and Nacho Novo. Ahead of them was Foster who tried to put it out of the danger zone but instead managed to bury it past Langfield.

Two minutes after and it was two, a Novo corner met emphatically by little Miller. Rangers looked home-free but there was worry to come. Gary McDonald should have scored when put clean through in the 74th minute but he clipped Alexander's crossbar. Paton wasn't as profligate when his chance came five minutes later, beating off the challenge of David Weir and Steven Whittaker before tucking it away in the corner.

Aberdeen couldn't muster an equaliser and they thanked the heavens for that at Ibrox. Rangers would have given a million quid for a third goal but that never materialised either. It was a day of mixed emotions. A win but at a price. Bougherra's loss will be hailed across town. You can be sure of that.

I'm disappointed with Lafferty, admits Smith

WALTER Smith rounded on the officials – and his own play-acting midfielder – in the wake of this tense contest. The Rangers manager described the decision to send off Madjid Bougherra as "incredible" and laid the blame squarely at the door of Graham Chambers, the linesman, who instructed referee Stuart Dougal that Bougherra had to go.

"It was an incredible ordering off," said Smith of the Bougherra incident. "I've seen both red cards. I'm disappointed with my own player (Kyle Lafferty] and his reaction because there was no great contact (from Charlie Mulgrew] and I'll be having words with Kyle about that.

"For the second one, the linesman has said our player has deliberately kicked the keeper in the head. For him to make that assumption is absolutely incredible."

Jimmy Calderwood said that the Bougherra decision was "a bit harsh, it was just enthusiasm going in for the ball" but Bougherra will miss the final day of the season on Sunday unless Dougal holds his hands up and says he got it wrong. An appeals procedure might then be put in train and he could have it overturned come the weekend. Unlikely, though. Very unlikely.

On Lafferty, Calderwood said he didn't see the dive. "The lads have seen it on television and somebody's said he feigned the injury and that big Kyle should have been sent off himself. I don't know about an appeal. I saw Stuart (Dougal] the other night at Parkhead and I was kidding him on saying 'you're back (from injury] for one game and you're already causing a riot'. To be fair, it was his linesman who gave the decisions. Stuart might look at it again and say he made a mistake. He's done it before."

Looking at the overall picture Smith said he was content. "We hoped to get one or two more goals but I'm pleased. It was about winning. We had opportunities to add to our goals but we didn't take them. It was hard having to play Wednesday-Saturday. From what I read in the papers nobody thinks that's a problem, but it was always going to be an awkward match for us."