Dons Lose Out To The Rangers Penalties

The first of a double header against the Glasgow Premiership sides ended in the Dons losing in this end of season affair at Ibrox and ended Aberdeen’s chance of getting a second-placed finish in the Premiership this season.

Derek McInnes made two changes to the side which beat Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.  Graeme Shinnie was out with his ankle injury and Mikey Devlin was dropped to the bench.

James Wilson started and Lewis Ferguson returned from suspension.

It took until the 13th minute for the Dons to register anything in attack when James Wilson’s free kick from the right was met by Sam Cosgrove at the back post, but his header drifted wide.

Not long after that we lost Connor McLennan to injury.  He pulled up with a hamstring injury and tried to play through it to no avail and Mikey Devlin came on as his replacement, with Max Lowe moved to the left midfield and Considine went to left back.

Joe Lewis put in a number of saves to keep Aberdeen in the game and see out the first half at 0-0.

A game against The Rangers wouldn’t be without a penalty being awarded to them.

Shortly into the second half and it didn’t take long for the hosts to go ahead when Katic tried to turn at the back post under pressure from Lewis Ferguson, Katic went to ground and the ref pointed to the spot.  James Tavernier took the spot kick and sent Joe the wrong way to put The Rangers ahead.

Rangers continued to pile on the pressure and with just over ten minutes to go, The Rangers were awarded a second penalty after Considine was considered to have elbowed Katic.  Don Robertson pointed to the spot again, and Considine saw a second yellow, then red.  The Dons were down to ten men.

James Tavernier scored his second of the game from the penalty spot, putting the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.

It was a poor Dons performance, yes, our ever increasing number of injuries haven’t helped towards the latter part of the season – but this end of season affair just showed how much we struggled compared to our previous wins this season against The Rangers.

Derek McInnes commented after the game: “Both penalties are very harsh. The second penalty kick, words fail me how that can be given. It’s a terrible decision and has a huge impact on the final result. It kills the game and it’s really disappointing.”

“We need some bodies back but never known anything like it injuries wise. McLennan looks like a tear. It could be weeks or his season could be over. Mackay-Steven isn’t back and McGinn is getting his operation. Logan could be back next week though.”

Next up, Celtic at Pittodrie on Saturday.