Ryan Naderi struck seven minutes from time to send Rangers into the Premier Sports Cup final, breaking Aberdeen's stubborn resistance in a 1-0 semi-final win at Hampden Park and giving Derek McInnes his first final as Rangers manager.
For more than 80 minutes this had the look of one of those nights. Aberdeen sat deep, frustrated Rangers and rode their luck, while the Ibrox side piled up shots without finding a finish. In the end, one scruffy, instinctive touch from their German striker was enough — and it may come to matter far beyond this competition.
Twenty-five shots, one goal
The numbers tell the story of Rangers' dominance and their wastefulness in equal measure. As SoccerNews reported, McInnes' side recorded 25 shots in search of a winner, but only five were on target — a return their manager did not try to dress up.
"Semi-finals are never easy," McInnes told Premier Sports. "Our play was too ponderous in the first half; we needed to move quicker across the grass. It's embarrassing we had 25 shots and only five on target."
Badredine Bouanani was a regular source of danger down the right, supplying crosses and cutting inside, as the Dave.sport report detailed. Kevin Kelsy headed wide from one of his deliveries, Nicky Devlin cleared a Bouanani effort off the line, and Marius Muller saved from Kim Min-su and Nicolas Raskin as Rangers turned the screw after the break.
Aberdeen still threatened on the break. Kevin Nisbet went close, and South Africa defender Olwethu Makhanya intervened with an important block to stop another Dons opportunity becoming something more dangerous. Makhanya played the full 90 minutes, and iDiski Times noted it was Rangers' eighth clean sheet with the Bafana Bafana defender in the team.
The move that finally broke Aberdeen
The decisive attack began, fittingly, from an Aberdeen corner. Kelsy — who had been close to being replaced by Bojan Miovski — carried Rangers up the pitch on the break and brought Bouanani into the move. When the winger's delivery was cleared to James Penrice, his low ball across goal found Naderi, who diverted it beyond Muller for his eighth goal of the season.
"Thankfully, Ryan scores a scruffy goal; he anticipates a shot going across the goal, and thankfully, he managed to get the goal that matters for us," McInnes said. "I thought we were far more imposing in the second half than in the first. I always felt like a goal was coming, but I was more concerned about giving one away at the other end."
For Stephen Robinson's Aberdeen, a determined defensive effort ended without reward, seven minutes short of extra time.
So what — a first trophy is now one game away
Rangers' unbeaten run now stands at 11 matches, and the reward is a return to Hampden on Sunday 13 December. Their opponents will be known on Sunday afternoon, when Hearts — who have had their own European nights this season, including a Conference League meeting with Trabzonspor — face Hibernian in the second semi-final at the national stadium. An Edinburgh derby to decide who meets Rangers is a subplot Scottish football will savour.
There is history in play too. Rangers last lifted the League Cup in 2023, and McInnes knows what a first trophy would do for a squad still building belief under him. "It's an important opportunity for us now to go and build a bit of confidence by winning a trophy," he said. The contrast with their Old Firm rivals is sharp enough: while Celtic have been dropping points in Europe this autumn, Rangers are the ones marching towards silverware.
McInnes also admitted his forward line still needs an older head at times — "we were too snatchy at crosses" — and that is the warning inside the win. Against Hearts or Hibernian in December, 25 shots may not come so easily.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This was not pretty, and McInnes was honest enough to say so — but semi-finals are about getting through, and Rangers found a way when the game was drifting towards extra time. Naderi's anticipation, Penrice's delivery and Makhanya's block are the small moments finals are built on. Win on 13 December and this scruffy 1-0 becomes the night McInnes' Rangers stopped promising and started delivering.
Was Naderi's late winner the moment Rangers' season turned, or did Aberdeen let a famous upset slip away? Have your say in the comments.