Rangers ‘Not Thinking’ About Title Race, Rangers 2-1 Aberdeen

Rangers are “not thinking” about the title race, says boss Phillipe Clement, despite his side moving level on points with Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic by beating Aberdeen in Neil Warnock’s first game in charge.

Much of the pre-match talk revolved around veteran manager Warnock’s arrival in Scotland, but that noise was soon silenced when Rabbi Matondo fired home after goalkeeper Kelle Roos spilled the ball into his path.

As they pushed forward in search of the three-goal victory that would have moved them top of the table, Rangers were left stunned as a long ball was finished off brilliantly by Bojan Miovski.

The home crowd grew restless as chances came and went, but another rebound from a Roos save – this time tucked away by Todd Cantwell – was enough to claw back a gap to Celtic that looked overwhelming before Clement’s arrival.

A late red card for Dujon Sterling – upheld by referee Don Robertson after a VAR review – gave Aberdeen late hope, but Warnock suffered a rare defeat in a first game in charge of a new club.

“Going to 10 players was another thing that went against us and you need to stick together,” Clement said.

“It is a massive thing to win games like this. These are normally the ones where you lose points. If we keep winning games like that, it is good for the rest of the season. We are taking it game by game.

“I believe this team can go a really long way if they stick together and there are no egos. We are still fighting for three competitions.”

The electricity of an Ibrox crowd desperate for their side to move top of the table seeped onto the pitch as Rangers’ intensity overwhelmed Aberdeen early on.

The opening goal seemed just a matter of time, and came when Matondo punished Roos’ careless error.

James Tavernier then failed to finish off a slick move, before Matondo burst through the backline, waiting so long to pull the trigger in a moment of indecision that it felt longer than Warnock’s 44-year managerial career.

Despite the domination, Aberdeen know they have a striker capable of conjuring something from nothing. And so it proved. Miovski fended off Connor Goldson and dinked his 20th goal of the season past Jack Butland.

Roos went some way to atoning for his early error as he stood tall to twice deny Cyriel Dessers, with the second stop an excellent reaction save with his right boot.

But the Dutchman would again be left to rue a parried save as Tom Lawrence’s arrowed strike was only diverted towards Cantwell, who soaked up the adulation of the home crowd for the second time in four days.

In his 1627th game in the dugout, Warnock’s first career encounter with VAR proved eventful as referee Robertson chose to stick with his decision to send off Sterling after the substitute slid in on Jack MacKenzie.

The visitors could have nicked it after a late melee in the box required a sprawling save from Butland, while Fabio Silva was inches away from sealing the game with a dragged shot across goal.

Some of the home crowd will have filtered out of Ibrox with a tinge of disappointment at not hitting the front in the title race, but given how far they were behind when Clement took over, pulling level was enough to spark celebrations.